Federal agencies run over a million license searches despite state blocks

Washington state has established multiple barriers to prevent federal immigration officials from accessing driver and vehicle data, yet critics argue the system still allows for widespread surveillance. On Tuesday, advocates in Seattle renewed their calls for the state to tighten restrictions further as federal agencies continue to query the Department of Licensing database.

The push for tighter controls follows a period of intense activity by federal immigration enforcement. University of Washington researchers linked 356 arrests to federal queries of license data between August 2025 and October 13, 2026. In the first five months of this year, agencies under the U.S. Department of Homeland Security searched state licensing data more than one million times.

State officials have taken steps to limit access since last November. The Washington State Patrol blocked 174,000 search attempts from federal agencies between November 2025 and October 12, 2026. This total includes 89,000 searches from Customs and Border Protection, 45,000 from Homeland Security Investigations, and nearly 40,000 from U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

Despite these blocks, researchers say millions of additional searches from the Department of Homeland Security have still gone through. They argue this continued access violates the Keep Washington Working Act, a 2019 law that prevents the sharing of state data for civil immigration purposes. The state is one of 19 that issues driver’s licenses regardless of immigration status and does not require federal agencies to present warrants for most data requests.

Governor Bob Ferguson said his administration has limited access for immigration enforcement while keeping pathways for public safety, such as human trafficking investigations. "Looking ahead to the next two years, this will be an ongoing process for us to adapt to what (the) federal government does next to work around what we do to protect our data," Ferguson said in a statement.

Brionna Aho, a spokesperson for the governor, said the team is reviewing what other states have done to require judicial warrants for civil immigration requests. Aho noted that shutting off access entirely is not an option due to legitimate public safety needs. The state has suspended the accounts of nine Customs and Border Protection searchers and three U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services searchers suspected of using the data for enforcement.

Federal agents have found new ways to bypass state restrictions. These include using the Nlets platform, where the state has blocked certain ICE searches and hidden photos from Customs and Border Protection. The state also suspended the ability of ICE and Customs and Border Protection to renew tabs for license plates on undercover vehicles, a move the Trump administration is challenging in court.