Balducci statement upon Council approval of motion calling for restriction on federal funding for ICE, other DHS agencies

January 27, 2026

King County Councilmember Claudia Balducci on Tuesday issued the following statement after joining her colleagues in co-sponsoring and approving a motion calling for Congress to put guardrails on funding for U.S. Immigration and Customs (ICE), U.S. Customs and Border Protection, and other Department of Homeland Security agencies and halt violent deployments into American cities:

“As someone who has worked in law enforcement and law enforcement oversight, it is clear to me that DHS is a badly managed organization with Border Protection and ICE agents creating dangerous situations, risking the lives of people that they should be protecting. The violence and chaos these agencies are perpetrating in Minnesota is horrifying and, unfortunately, a completely predictable outcome when a massive surge of poorly trained federal agents undertake a poorly thought out, unnecessary escalation of force in otherwise peaceful communities.

“We must not accept the deaths of innocent civilians exercising their constitutional rights. The fear and confusion this administration is sowing in immigrant communities, including law-abiding, hard-working residents who are going through legitimate immigration proceedings, is heartbreaking. Both ICE and Border Protection have shown they are incapable of carrying out constitutional or safe enforcement activities and the Trump administration seems more interested in numbers of deportations than the constitutional and human rights of American citizens and residents.

“I join my colleagues in calling for Congress to restrict funding for DHS until it can bring its agencies under control and show that it intends to uphold federal law, including protecting – rather than attacking – peoples’ constitutionally protected rights. Today’s Council action calls for agencies to follow due process and for agents to be properly identified, just as we require for our own local law enforcement. It calls for investigation and accountability after critical incidents, like we do with our own local law enforcement. We are asking the federal government to meet the standards that we require of our own law enforcement agencies. What’s happening now is a disgrace to our nation and it must stop, immediately.”