Activists blockade Seattle Federal Building for 14 hours in protest of ICE arrests
Hundreds of community members participated in a 14-hour-long protest against ICE at the Seattle Federal Building this Tuesday, June 10.
Activists mobilized against the arrest and detainment of migrants after their immigration court hearings by Immigrant and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents. Since May 20, plain-clothed ICE officers — wearing surgical and gaiter masks to avoid identification — have become a regular presence at the Federal Building, loitering in the hallways on floors 6, 7 and 8 where the courtrooms are located.
Immigration lawyers have reported that more than a dozen immigrants have been detained at the Federal Building using this tactic, including a case in which a migrant was apprehended while their lawyer was in the restroom. People have been protesting outside the building in the weeks since ICE implemented the new policy, but until Tuesday attendance was relatively sparse. Activists have also been inside the building to monitor the presence and activities of the ICE agents.
However, the mood changed after U.S. President Donald Trump’s unprecedented decision to order the National Guard and Marines to crack down on anti-ICE protests in Los Angeles over the weekend.
Violence by federal troops and law enforcement sparked backlash in California and across the country, with many solidarity protests as well as local demonstrations against ICE and the Trump administration’s xenophobic policies. The outrage likely supercharged the June 10 protest, motivating many more people to show up and deploy bolder tactics.
At about 8 a.m. that day, activists began gathering outside the Federal Building, bringing their usual protest signs and water to keep people hydrated on the hot sunny day. Immigration lawyers had reported that around 6 to 8 migrants were detained that morning, however that figure could not be independently verified.
After word that ICE agents had begun arresting people inside the building, activists began blockading the four Federal Building parking garage exits in an attempt to prevent any ICE vehicles from leaving. Security guards locked down the building, preventing ordinary members of the public from entering.
By around noon, protesters had begun using Lime e-bikes and e-scooters to erect makeshift barricades at the four parking garage exits. Using duct tape and bungee cords, they tied dozens of scooters together to form a formidable barrier. This novel tactic appeared briefly at the May 5 UW protest, but had not been used to such an extent before.
State of the parking garage blockade right now. Protesters are zip-tying and duct taping the Lime scooters and bikes in a 21st century answer to the barricades of Paris
— Guy Oron (@guyoron.net) June 10, 2025 at 7:12 PM
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Due to the prolonged nature of the protest, there were never more than about 100 protesters outside the building at any given time, with many coming and going due to work and other obligations. Some also showed up in “black bloc” attire or other tactical gear like gas masks and umbrellas in preparation for potential confrontations with police.
The first incident occurred just after 1 p.m. when around 10 Department of Homeland Security (DHS) police officers dressed in riot gear and holding less lethal weapons emerged from the Federal Building to confront the crowd, whose size was about 50 people at the time. The cops pushed through the protesters, telling them to disperse and then facing off with them outside one of the parking garage exits. After a few minutes they retreated back into the building.
The officers are part of the Federal Protective Services (FPS), which is responsible for securing federal government buildings. ICE, along with FPS and Customs and Border Patrol, is a part of the DHS.
At around 3 p.m., the DHS officers confronted protesters at a different exit, opening the garage door and removing the Lime bikes and scooters to disassemble the barricade. After this incident the protesters began tying the vehicles together to make it harder for police to remove them.
The prolonged protest drew much media attention and the presence of both mainstream and grassroots journalists. Several far-right influencers also made an appearance, live-tweeting the events with a negative, pro-ICE spin. Some of the protesters heckled the influencers, calling them racist propagandists.
At around 7 p.m. that day, MSNBC reported that the Trump administration was deploying Special Response Teams to five Democratic Party-run cities including Seattle. The move signalled that unrest over ICE raids was quickly spreading throughout the U.S., with DHS police unprepared to encounter backlash by protesters.
For most of the day, the Seattle Police Department (SPD) stayed away from the protest, not intervening in the confrontation between demonstrators and DHS personnel. Earlier that day, SPD Chief Shon Barnes had even told the Seattle City Council he expected to be arrested at some point by the Trump administration over his refusal to participate in federal immigration enforcement, in line with Seattle and Washington State’s sanctuary city laws.
However, at about 8 p.m. activists monitoring police scanners said that SPD officers had deployed pepper spray and pepper ball munitions against the protesters. A video posted to Twitter shows several SPD vehicles driving eastbound along Marion Street facing the protesters at the Federal Building. One SPD officer was seen holding a pepper spray canister while another dragged a protester along the crosswalk, perhaps in an attempt to remove the protester from the street. One source said that SPD drove by, deployed pepper spray and pepper ball munitions against the demonstrators, and then left.
Detective Brian Pritchard, a spokesperson for SPD, confirmed that the department answered a call for “mutual aid” from FPS and was there only in a “support role.” The Keep Washington Working Act, which bans local police collaboration with ICE, does not prevent coordination between DHS and SPD over crowd control and protest response. Pritchard said that SPD “wasn’t there very long” at around 8 p.m.
UPDATE: DHS police are now attacking protesters using pepper spray munitions, according to @divestspd.bsky.social , in an apparent attempt to clear the front exit of demonstrators. It seems that cops waited until night when less people were out.
— Guy Oron (@guyoron.net) June 10, 2025 at 9:15 PM
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Although the timeline of events is a bit unclear, between 8 and 9 p.m. DHS officers began confronting the protesters once again, attacking them with pepper spray and shooting pepper ball rounds at the crowd outside of the front entrance on the eastern side of the building. DHS officers also arrested two protesters who had been blockading the front entrance, forcibly dragging them inside the building. They were released later that night and given violation notices with court hearing dates.
The whereabouts of the detained migrants is currently unknown.
DHS officers also opened the door of one of the parking garage exits once again around that time. Protesters faced them down behind the Lime scooter barricade, holding black umbrellas and chanting “Free the hostages!” in reference to the detained immigrants.
After 9:30 p.m., the violence appeared to stop. By that time, SPD had also cleared the scene. Due to the length of the protest and the police violence, many demonstrators had also left the protest. After sunset, some protesters took down the two U.S. flags outside the Federal Building and set them on fire.
In a statement published on June 11, Seattle Mayor Bruce Harrell said that at the moment, the city has not received notice of ICE raids or activity. Harrell stated that the “Trump administration’s actions in Los Angeles are an extreme and egregious overreach of federal authority” and condemned ICE’s repeated violations of due process.
Harrell also said that he supports Seattleites’ First Amendment free speech rights but rebuked “[v]iolence and property damage” by protesters as doing “exactly what Trump wants to spin his false narrative.” He added that SPD was preparing to respond to more protests in the coming days.
This is a breaking news story and will be updated with new information as it becomes available.
This article has been updated with more information about the protesters who were arrested as well as with statements by SPD and Mayor Bruce Harrell.
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