Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents make stops, arrests in Kitsap County

Chris Henry and Josh Farley, Kitsap SunPublished 3:50 p.m. PT Sept. 23, 2019 | Updated 6:06 p.m. PT Sept. 23, 2019

BREMERTON — Agents with the federal Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency Monday conducted the first known sweep of the Kitsap Peninsula under the Trump Administration's bolstered efforts in deporting immigrants in the country illegally.

Stops and arrests were reported in at least two locations. Agents stopped a truck at the Shell Gas Station at 1501 SE Sedgwick Road in Port Orchard and detained multiple people, witnesses said.
Ray Garrido of the Kitsap Immigrant Assistance Center said he learned late Monday four people were arrested in Port Orchard, but he did not know the location of the arrests.

ICE conducted another stop and arrest Monday morning in East Bremerton at the corner of Wheaton Way and Pearl Street, according to witnesses. Matt Knowlton, a technician at L&R Automotive, said he watched as four unmarked units stopped a pickup truck.


The Washington Immigrant Solidarity Network shared this photo Monday from the Shell gas station off Segwick Road in Port Orchard. (Photo: Washington Immigrant Solidarity Network)

ICE itself has yet to verify whether its agents conducted raids in Kitsap County, and if so, how many people were arrested and where they were taken in. An ICE official said, “We don’t conduct raids, we conduct targeted operations.”

Sgt. Ken Dickinson of Kitsap County Sheriff's Office said federal agencies notified local law enforcement of the actions, as is standard procedure. But the sheriff's office did not participate in the operation.

Port Orchard resident Miguel Francisco reported on Facebook that ICE agents approached him at the Shell Station on Bethel Avenue and “tried barging into my car.” Francisco shared that there were eight immigration cars and that agents were accompanied by a reporter from a Seattle TV news station.

“Didn’t break a single law yet was harassed based on my ethnicity (skin tone),” Francisco said. “Worst experience in my life, worst of all the Q13 fox news reporters were just there watching it all go down, felt humiliated to say the least.”


Brandi Kruse, a reporter with Q13, later acknowledged on social media that she was along on the operations as an observer.

"The person they were looking for was not inside the vehicle, so they had no legal authority to detain the occupants or force them to exit the truck, so the agents left," she wrote.

Garrido said he had not had contact with Francisco, and he did not know whether the incident at the Shell station and the arrests of four individuals in Port Orchard were related.

Monserrat Padilla of the Washington Immigrant Solidarity Network said her organization was able to verify ICE presence at the Port Orchard Shell station around 8:30 a.m. Monday. Padilla said agents appeared to be targeting the gas station because it is a well-known stop for workers presumed to be immigrants. ICE agents targeted a landscaping vehicle with three or four men, WISN said on social media.

“Our teams are trying to contact the directly impacted communities,” Padilla said.

Padilla was unable to immediately verify the incident in East Bremerton. She said the Port Orchard incident was the first WISN has documented of ICE operations in Kitsap County since the Trump administration announced in June it would round up large numbers of undocumented immigrants for deportation.

Padilla said EISN also is working to verify reports that ICE agents showed up at an AMPM market in North Kitsap early Monday.

There has been an increase in raids, especially in King County. In addition to employment “hot spots,” ICE agents are known to frequent courthouses looking for people who, based on their appearance, are suspected of being undocumented immigrants, according to Padilla.

Garrido is working with WISN and other immigrant advocates to contact anyone who may have been sent to the Tacoma Northwest Detention Center.

“We want to get down there and make sure they’re represented,” Garrido said.

Padilla asks anyone who witnessed or was impacted ICE activity in Kitsap County to call WISN’s hotline at 844-724-3737.

https://www.kitsapsun.com/story/news...ap/2423990001/