Judge Marla Polin found that the Adams County Sheriff's Office ran afoul of the Keep Washington Working Act by sending lists of people in custody to federal immigration authorities, sharing jail release times, and allowing immigration agents to interview a person held in the county jail. Polin ordered the county to stop the unlawful conduct and to revise its policies so they comply with state law.

The ruling stems from a lawsuit Brown filed in 2025 alleging that Adams County had been helping Immigration and Customs Enforcement arrest people at the county jail and had shared personal information about Washington residents with federal immigration officials. Brown alleged the violations dated back to 2022, but said the county abruptly cut off negotiations with the state after President Donald Trump began his second term. The county then retained lawyers from America First Legal, an organization founded by Trump's incoming chief of staff, Stephen Miller.

"This is a victory for the rights and dignity of all Washingtonians, regardless of where they were born, and an affirmation that local law enforcement cannot be co-opted by the federal government," Brown said in a statement Friday. "Today's ruling allows our state to continue building trust and confidence between law enforcement and immigrant communities as the federal administration undermines those efforts with its draconian policies."

Adams County Sheriff Dale Wagner said he strongly disagrees with the decision and will appeal. "I firmly believe that no law should prevent local law enforcement from working with federal authorities when doing so can help keep violent criminals off our streets and protect law-abiding residents," Wagner said in a prepared statement. "Our State and its current administration continue to support sanctuary state policies that, in my opinion, place unnecessary restrictions on law enforcement."

When the lawsuit was filed, Wagner said his department would "continue to do our jobs" and argued that state restrictions "attempt to tie the hands of law enforcement, making it harder to cooperate with federal agencies that help keep dangerous individuals off our streets." Wagner was among a handful of county sheriffs who announced in 2019 that they would not enforce Washington's newly passed gun laws, contending the measures were unconstitutional.

According to Polin's ruling, Wagner testified that even after the state sued, he continued consulting with federal immigration authorities about entering into an agreement that would deputize local officers to perform immigration duties—an arrangement state law prohibits.

The Keep Washington Working Act, passed in 2019, directs local law enforcement agencies to play a minimal role in federal immigration arrests and deportations. It is a central reason Washington is widely described as a sanctuary state, though the term is unofficial and has no fixed legal definition. Under the law, local police cannot ask about someone's immigration status unless it is relevant to a criminal investigation, and they cannot arrest or detain someone solely to determine immigration status. Being in the United States without legal status is a civil offense, not a criminal one.

The statute also bars local agencies from disclosing private information not tied to a criminal case to federal immigration authorities. There are exceptions: agencies may share information about a person's immigration status, but they may not hand over details such as a home address, jail release date, or court dates.

The ruling against Adams County arrives as the Trump administration presses for greater local cooperation with federal immigration enforcement, and as state officials across the country weigh how far local agencies can go in assisting ICE. For immigrant communities in Washington, the decision reinforces the legal boundaries of the 2019 law and signals that state officials will pursue counties that cross them. For Adams County, the order means the sheriff's office must rewrite its policies while Wagner pursues an appeal that could test the reach of the state's sanctuary law.