Washington bill seeks to prevent bail bond agents from enforcing immigration law
Tucked away in a corner of Washington’s Yakima Valley is the small town of Sunnyside, made up of roughly 17,000 residents, a majority of whom are Latino and some lack legal status.
In January, shortly after President Donald Trump took office, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement raised fear in the local immigrant community when they arrested two people in the parking lot of Fiesta Foods, the largest Latino grocery in town.
Local leaders later held a meeting to address some of these concerns. In that public meeting, a person who claimed to be a “bounty hunter” said ICE would soon use bail bond agents to arrest people in the U.S. without legal authorization and pay them $1,000 for every arrest made.
Washington lawmakers have since introduced Senate Bill 5714, which seeks to prevent bail bond agents from enforcing civil immigration warrants and sharing a defendant’s immigration status with anyone outside their business.
https://washingtonstatestandard.com/2025/03/14/washington-bill-seeks-to-prevent-bail-bond-agents-from-enforcing-immigration-law/