Through the Static

By Hannah Saunders

Armed men with Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) wearing differing fatigues—some in plainclothes— detained a young woman outside of UW’s Delta Tau Delta building on March 17 after 1 p.m. HSI is the investigative wing of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), and has been conducting kidnappings for ICE. Seattle Mayor Katie Wilson and the UW stated that this incident was not immigration-related. 

“I am aware of the reports from the U-District about a woman who was detained by federal authorities and separated from her small child who is currently with CPS. My team has been closely monitoring the situation and has confirmed that she was detained by the Department of Homeland Security on a criminal warrant. To the best of our knowledge this was not immigration-related,” Wilson said in a social media post on March 18. 

The woman is pregnant and Venezuelan, and had her 10-month-old baby in the car at the time of her detainment, according to KUOW.

TtS previously reported that these were suspected ICE agents, and a student on the ground stated they saw a Department of Homeland Security (DHS) patch. Copagandist Brandon, of Pacnorthwest Media, commented on TtS’s video of the incident, stating that it was SPD SWAT. The Burner also posted a now-deleted video showing a close-up angle of the detainment, which circulated social media. Some community members began questioning and confidently declaring that these actions were conducted by SPD. Earlier today, TtS confirmed that these officers were specifically HSI. 

Sources told TtS that ICE activity in the U-District has been high in recent months, and there are reports of new pick-up trucks, like the grey one from the March 17 detainment, that have been patrolling the area, including one with a DHS WA license plate. That evening, UW issued a statement and said the woman was detained “in connection with a federal warrant from out of state,” that “the UW is still working to gather verifiable information,” and that no UW students or staff members were involved. 

UW’s Students for a Democratic Society held an emergency rally at the U-District Light Rail Station on March 17 to demand that the university protect its students and to keep ICE out, and about 150 people turned out to the event. 

“UW did not issue a statement about the abduction until after the mobilization, and did not directly tell workers at all. This represents a serious failure to keep their students safe and informed. If the statement were worth issuing at all, it should have been made as soon as UW admin knew that the abduction had happened,” the student group said on March 18, adding how the students should organize and demand better protection from the university.

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