Sheriff Swank’s meeting with ICE officials draws attention of state AG
AI-generated summary reviewed by our newsroom.
- Sheriff Swank met with ICE in April after asking to discuss immigration enforcement.
- State AG’s office requested records from Swank amid scrutiny of local ICE cooperation.
- Other departments denied ICE meetings; Swank’s meeting appears to be an outlier.
Pierce County Sheriff Keith Swank had a “meet and greet” in April with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s Seattle Field Office Director Camilla Wamsley and an acting deputy field office director, public records show.
The News Tribune requested copies of all communications between Sheriff’s Office employees and ICE, U.S. Customs and Border Protection and the U.S. Marshals Service after the Seattle Times reported in July that the Washington State Attorney General’s Office had filed a request for these records.
Recently released emails show that Swank’s assistant, Lurene Muckley, reached out to ICE’s Seattle Field Office in March to set up a meeting, with the subject line “Meet and Greet.”
“The Pierce County Sheriff’s Office has a new administration as of Jan. 1, 2025,” Muckley wrote. “Sheriff Keith Swank would like me to set up a meet and greet with the appropriate personnel within your agency to discuss immigration enforcement and removal. He would prefer to meet at your location rather than our Headquarters for public optics and discretion. Thank you for your help in coordinating this request.”
The meeting took place April 10 at the Northwest ICE Processing Center in Tacoma. Swank, Muckley, Wamsley and former Acting Deputy Field Office Director Erik Johnson attended the meeting.
In a phone call Friday, Swank told The News Tribune it was a brief meeting, more about introductions than anything else. He said he hadn’t been to the facility before and wanted to take a look at it, but he didn’t fully tour the premises. According to Swank, the Sheriff’s Office has not entered into any agreements with ICE.
“I don’t think we really talked too much about immigration enforcement,” Swank said.
Representatives for ICE did not respond to a request for comment.
Swank has said he would like to work with ICE to help federal efforts to deport undocumented immigrants, but the Keep Washington Working Act prohibits cooperation between local law enforcement and federal immigration authorities. He is not alone among Washington sheriffs. Adams County Sheriff Dale Wagner testified before a U.S. House committee on April 9 about his opposition to “sanctuary laws,” such as the Keep Washington Act. Swank and other Washington sheriffs traveled to Washington, D.C. to support him.
Adams County is now defending a lawsuit from the Attorney General’s Office over allegations it has aided federal officials with immigration enforcement. The attorney general’s public-records request to Swank’s office suggests it is keeping an eye on him, but a spokesperson for the Attorney General’s Office, citing a longstanding policy, would not confirm or deny to The News Tribune whether an investigation has been opened.
Two days after Swank’s meeting with ICE officials, records show he sent Wagner, Wamsley and Johnson an email with the subject line “Connection.” Swank was vague but said in the email he wanted to connect the three people and that Wagner had some things to discuss with Wamsley and Johnson. Four days later, Wamsley replied and said she’d love to chat with Wagner.
Swank’s office appears to be an outlier in having a face-to-face meeting with ICE leaders. Sgt. John Correa, a spokesperson for the Tacoma Police Department, said the department hadn’t received such an invitation or attended this type of meeting. Puyallup Police Department Capt. Kevin Gill said they’d had no invitations to meet, and Sgt. Charles Porche of the Lakewood Police Department said he was not aware of any such meetings.
Little else is noteworthy from records of the sheriff’s office’s communications with ICE so far released to The News Tribune. Also requested were copies of contracts, agreements, memorandums, reports and/or any other records of collaboration between Swank’s office and ICE, Border Patrol and the Marshals Service, as well as daily booking logs or jail rosters for the Pierce County Jail.
This story was originally published September 17, 2025 at 5:00 AM.
