‘I have made it clear that I will work with ICE’: Klickitat County sheriff sends jail roster to ICE in violation of Keep Washington Working ActSubscriber Exclusive

A Washington law that prevents local authorities from assisting federal immigration agencies may only be as strong as their willingness to comply.

Passed in 2019, the Keep Washington Working Act restricts cooperation between local and state law enforcement and federal immigration agencies. The legislation limits information sharing, prohibits detaining individuals solely for immigration violations and mandates that immigration enforcement be restricted at sensitive areas, such as schools, hospitals and courthouses.

However, Klickitat County Sheriff Bob Songer recently told The Columbian that when he oversaw the county’s jail, he sent daily jail rosters to U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement and the Department of Homeland Security.

“I have made it clear that I will work with ICE,” Songer said in a Feb. 13 phone interview. “And I don’t care if the attorney general or the governor take issue with it.”

Songer’s refusal to comply raises logistical and legal questions about the state’s power to enforce he law.

Songer said he believes the law is unconstitutional. He argued undocumented immigrants who commit crimes seek out and are protected by sanctuary states like Washington.

The consequences of violating the Keep Washington Working Act are unclear. The state attorney general’s website states law enforcement agencies’ noncompliance could lead to civil liability, with costs borne by taxpayers, and potentially individual civil liability for state or local personnel. Intentional violation may also constitute a criminal offense under Washington law.

A Washington Attorney General’s Office spokesperson would not say whether the agency intends to take action against Songer.

“This individual is pretty well known for having, let’s say, novel ideas around what is or isn’t constitutional. But we can only speak generally on this subject publicly and not to the implications of a specific individual’s behavior,” said Mike Faulk, deputy communications director for the attorney general’s office.

State Attorney General Nick Brown filed a lawsuit against Adams County and its sheriff’s office for alleged violations in March in Spokane County Superior Court and U.S. District Court for Eastern Washington.

The attorney general’s office alleged that the Adams County Sheriff’s Office held people in custody based only on their immigration status, helped federal agents question people in custody and routinely gave immigration officials people’s confidential, personal information.

“We have the authority to take jurisdictions to court to make them stop violating the law. If a court then tells someone to stop breaking the law, and they don’t, the court has broad authority to force them into compliance,” Faulk said.

A federal judge in January dismissed all claims against the sheriff’s office after finding that sheriff’s offices are not independent agencies subject to suit under Washington law. The sheriff’s office also requested the Superior Court case be dismissed for the same reason, but a judge denied it. The agency has asked the state Court of Appeals to review that decision, according to an Inlander report.

Over the past few years, the Klickitat County Jail, while under Songer’s management, came under fire for accusations of human rights violations. The county jail was set to close in 2024, until the Klickitat County board of commissioners decided to create a new corrections department.

The decision followed a $20 million wrongful death lawsuit in January 2025 over a suicide in the jail by a man experiencing fentanyl withdrawal and a November 2024 incident in which a female inmate appeared at a hospital in severe neglect with possible sepsis and covered in bugs.

The separation of powers between the sheriff’s office and jail took effect Dec. 3, 2024. Bill Frantz was then hired as chief jail administrator.

Frantz told The Columbian he was initially unaware of the jail’s data-sharing practices.

“I was so overwhelmed at that time, I didn’t even know that we were doing that,” Frantz said. “I started following up on laws and found out that ICE and DHS were on the contacts list for the jail roster, and it was a handful of months after being hired that I discovered that and took them off.”

A spokesperson for ICE and DHS declined to comment on Songer’s prior practice at the jail but said it’s critical for local and state law enforcement to cooperate with federal immigration agencies.

The spokesperson said without local help, federal agencies are forced to maintain a larger street presence.

Songer has not shied from controversy over the years.

Songer resigned from the Washington Association of Sheriffs and Police Chiefs in 2025, said Steven Strachan, the association’s executive director. Songer opposed the group’s support of a bill that would allow the hiring of noncitizens for law enforcement positions, which Songer called “disrespectful” to career law enforcement officers.

In a video posted to his Facebook profile Dec. 11, 2024, he told federal ICE officials “put me on speed dial.”

“That might be his stance, but that’s not our stance,” Frantz said of the data-sharing practice with ICE. “If that’s what he said, that’s his stance. I follow the state law.”

Songer has been linked to the Constitutional Sheriffs and Peace Officers Association. The group advances the “constitutional sheriff” ideology, which asserts that a county sheriff’s authority surpasses that of the United States president, giving sheriffs discretion on which federal and state laws to enforce.

When asked if he’s concerned about consequences for violating state sanctuary law, Songer laughed.

“Oh no, I’m defying an unconstitutional law?” Songer said with a sarcastic inflection. “Just because the state has a law doesn’t mean it’s constitutional. As sheriff, that’s my opinion. I will work with ICE. And if they want to come pick up an illegal alien, then I’m in cooperation.”

Aaron Korthuis, an attorney with the Northwest Immigrant Rights Project, argued Songer’s opinion doesn’t hold weight.

“That’s just like a fabricated, harebrained theory that has no basis in reality,” Korthuis said. “It displays a basic misunderstanding of how sheriffs function in this state and how state law determines the conduct of sheriffs in this state.”

Korthuis said, “Songer is not above the law.”

“Those past instances sound like violations of the law and if that’s the kind of thing that is continuing at the sheriff’s office then he’s exposing the county to liability and is displaying a clear disrespect for state law. There’s no legal basis to defy the state law,” Korthuis said.

Songer remains unmoved.

“What are they going to do, throw me in jail?” Songer said. “I support ICE. End of issue.”