Edmonds College notifies AG’s office after ICE agents arrest student

Published 1:04 pm Thursday, June 18, 2026

EVERETT — Federal immigration agents arrested an Edmonds College student on campus Saturday, according to statements from the college and U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

College officials said the agents did not provide identification or a warrant, which is against campus policy. The college has notified the state attorney general’s office.

According to statements the college sent to community members on Tuesday and Wednesday, agents with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, also known as ICE, drove into a campus parking lot near Snoqualmie Hall and pulled a student from a vehicle as he was waiting for a class activity.

In compliance with campus policy, a staff member asked the agents to provide their names, badges and a warrant. The agents did not provide the information before driving away with the student, according to the college.

The staff member alerted the campus security officer, who followed established reporting protocols and notified his supervisor, the college said.

“We do everything to make sure that our campus is a safe place, which it is, but in this case, it happened so quickly and we were very limited in what we could have done,” Edmonds College President Amit Singh said in an interview Thursday.

In a statement to The Daily Herald, ICE said the encounter began as a vehicle stop and the student chose to pull over onto campus property, where he complied with officer instructions. ICE said that the student, a 48-year-old man from Colombia, entered the U.S. legally in May 2018 and was supposed to leave by November 2019. He reportedly overstayed his visa and did not obtain any form of legal status to allow him to stay in the country, ICE said.

The student is currently being detained at the Northwest ICE Processing Center in Tacoma pending return to Colombia, according to ICE.

The agency did not respond to questions regarding whether agents provided a warrant or identification before the arrest.

At a Board of Trustees meeting Tuesday, community members raised concerns about delayed communication from the college, Singh said Thursday. The college wanted to gather more information about the situation before releasing a statement, he said. On Wednesday, Singh sent a follow-up statement with additional information about the arrest.

“I hope that this situation never takes place on our campus again, but commit to communicating more quickly, if it ever does,” he said in the statement.

The college could not ban the federal agents from the parking lot since it’s considered public property, Singh said. However, the college is allowed to restrict individuals from public spaces at or near the college if they are violating campus policy. The campus immigration policy requires a designated staff member to collect the agents’ credentials, names, nature of business and a copy of a court order or judicial warrant. Since the agents refused to comply with that portion of the policy, the college notified the state attorney general’s office on Wednesday, Singh said.

“We can do our part, make sure we have our policy in place, make sure that we inform our campus what the policy and procedure is, and make sure we also comply with the law,” he said Thursday. “So our job is to do our part, and we can’t control what other agencies do.”

In compliance with the Keep Washington Working Act, Edmonds College does not share any information with immigration agents, Singh said in the Wednesday statement.

The agents were also wearing masks, Singh said. It wasn’t immediately clear Thursday if the agents took their masks off at any point during the arrest. In March, a state law went into effect banning law enforcement officers, including federal agents, from wearing masks while conducting official business.

The arrest comes as ICE arrests are increasing nationwide due to President Donald Trump’s crackdown on immigration enforcement. In Snohomish County, immigration arrests grew from 17 in 2024 to 59 in 2025, according to data from the University of Washington’s Center for Human Rights.

Jenna Peterson: 425-339-3486; jenna.peterson@heraldnet.com; X: @jennarpetersonn.