Federal Data Access: 1.7 Million Searches Hit Washington

Federal agencies conducted 1.7 million searches of Washington state driver and vehicle data in the first five months of 2026.

The Washington State Patrol blocked 174,000 search attempts between November 2025 and October 12, 2026. Those blocked attempts included 89,000 from Customs and Border Protection, 45,000 from Homeland Security Investigations, and nearly 40,000 from U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

Chris Megargee volunteers at a Shoreline Home Depot where ICE agents detained six men since January. He stated that agents entered license plate numbers into a database to identify drivers before each arrest. Lucía Vázquez Martínez, field director for Service Employees International Union 775, urged state officials to cut off access to the Department of Licensing data.

Gov. Bob Ferguson said his administration limited Customs and Border Protection access for immigration enforcement. He noted that the state maintained necessary access for public safety, such as human trafficking investigations. Ferguson added that the state would adapt to federal workarounds over the next two years.

University of Washington researchers linked 356 arrests to federal license data queries between August 2025 and October 13, 2026. The state allows driver’s licenses regardless of immigration status, a policy shared by 18 other states. Washington does not require warrants for federal agencies to access this data for civil immigration purposes.

Brionna Aho, a spokesperson for the governor, said the state is reviewing what is lawful to require judicial warrants for civil immigration requests. The state blocked ICE searches on the Nlets platform and stopped Customs and Border Protection from viewing photos in that system. A terms-of-use notice now states that Nlets data cannot be used for immigration enforcement.

State officials suspended nine searchers associated with Customs and Border Protection and three with U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. They also suspended the ability of ICE and Customs and Border Protection to renew tabs for license plates on undercover vehicles. The Trump administration is currently suing Washington and other states over this specific policy.

University researchers argued that blocking individual accounts does not provide meaningful protection for state data. They said the continued federal access violates the Keep Washington Working Act, a 2019 state law that prevents sharing state data with federal authorities for civil immigration purposes.