Marysville’s public looks for ICE answers from their mayor
Published 1:30 am Thursday, January 29, 2026
MARYSVILLE — Questions about immigration enforcement took over the public portion of Marysville’s “State of the City” speech delivered by Mayor Jon Nehring on Wednesday night.
After the mayor announced the city’s 2025 achievements in infrastructure, quality of life, community management and public safety, Marysville residents in attendance and online were allowed to ask questions. A few were about traffic, but many were about the recent actions of federal Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents in Minnesota and across the nation.
Renee Good and Alex Pretti were shot and killed by federal agents in Minneapolis this month. Both were U.S. citizens with no criminal record. At the same time, immigration enforcement has increased in Snohomish County, including a recent drug and firearms bust in Marysville.
“If chaos ensues in Marysville, who is responsible? Is it you mayor? Is it the chief of police? Is it the City Council?” asked a Marysville resident who went by Danielle. “Residents deserve to know who will be held accountable if violence occurs, if civil rights are violated or if the state fails to protect its people.”
In many of his answers, Nehring assured the attendees that the city seeks to protect everybody’s constitutional rights, he said.
“We value everybody,” Nehring said. “We value the immigrant community, as many of them own businesses in the community. Many of them are good, hardworking members of our community. They’re all valued. They’re all welcome here.”
Marysville’s chief of police, Erik Scairpon, also spoke.
“Our minds are all reeling with the things that we’re seeing,” he said. “I can assure this community is that your police department is going to do everything it can to operate within state law, under the laws of our state, and we already comply with that. We have no desire to get involved with any kind of immigration enforcement.”
However, some of the attendees wanted the police to get involved, particularly in protecting children if federal agents attempted to enter schools.
“We don’t govern a federal agency,” Nehring said. “I suppose if we heard that that was happening, we would attempt to connect with the people in charge. I would attempt to do that, maybe our chief of police would, and find out, is there a way we can not do this and de-escalate that and remove that situation.”
“We don’t want anybody going onto campuses in Marysville asking kids for their families’ documentation,” he added.
State lawmakers are considering a bill, known as the Secure and Accountable Federal Enforcement Act, that would require federal agents to obtain a judicial warrant before entering hospitals, day care facilities and schools.
Finally, Nehring touched on how city employees may soon be utilizing artificial intelligence to streamline processes and improve efficiency, he said.
“Our problem is we have a lot more work than our current staff can do,” Nehring said. “So the goal is to say, how do we deliver the services to all of you with our existing force — and I don’t think you’re going to see a dramatic increase in how that works, but the safeguards that we’re talking about are to ensure that it’s used properly.”
Taylor Scott Richmond: 425-339-3046; taylor.richmond@heraldnet.com; X: @BTayOkay
