Is Seattle ready for a Portland-like federal response? Police, city leaders take preemptive steps Amy Radil October 17, 2025 / 5:42 pm

The Trump administration’s practice of using masked federal agents during immigration detentions has sparked panic over whether people are being abducted, and if so, by whom.

If Seattle Police are called to these encounters, Chief Operating Officer Brian Maxey said they will treat them as Priority 1 calls attended by an officer and a supervisor.

“We do our best to identify [if] this is a legitimate federal agency of some kind,” Maxey said. “What we’ve been hearing from other jurisdictions is while the agents don’t always identify themselves to community members that ask, they typically do to local law enforcement.”

Maxey said SPD is developing ne

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