Public commenters urge Seattle City Council to cancel surveillance contracts and bar immigration use
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Summary
Dozens of public commenters at the Jan. 27 council meeting urged Seattle officials to cancel surveillance contracts (including ALPRs and CCTV) and to prohibit sharing data with immigration enforcement, pressing the council for a resolution and immediate action.
Dozens of residents told the Seattle City Council on Jan. 27 that surveillance technology in the city threatens privacy and is being or could be used by federal agencies, including Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
“A single breach could expose residents’ movements, routines, and associations,” said Aura of the Seattle Alliance Against Racist and Political Repression, who urged the council to "walk back the surveillance ordinances" and asked Mayor Wilson to cancel contracts now. Several other speakers — including Olive, Jonathan Thulelo and Alex Moore — described campaigns to demand rescinding surveillance systems and asked the council to place a general resolution on next week’s agenda committing to end city surveillance and forbid access for immigration enforcement.
Speakers cited past security incidents with vendors: Aura referenced an alleged breach of Axon automated license plate readers and a 2025 administrative breach at Genetec Security Center to argue that the systems are insecure and create a “single point of failure.” Jonathan Thulelo said organized campaigns (an "ICE out of Seattle" campaign) will continue until officials act, and Alex Moore asked the council for an immediate resolution and promised repeated public return visits if the council does not act.
Several commenters linked surveillance funding and technology to broader community harms. Mish Vergara asked the council to end a reported $1,000,000 funding stream that she said enables surveillance measures and to redirect funds toward housing, jobs and education. Bradley Dosh cited a recent local abduction and a community fundraising effort of more than $20,000 as an example of the harms community members are trying to mitigate.
Council members did not take immediate formal action on surveillance at the meeting. Councilmember Kettle acknowledged the public comments and said his public safety committee would tackle the issues pragmatically, noting ethical concerns about presentations that include graphic, identifiable victim images and asking staff to explore masking or blurring options for presenters’ materials.
Next steps: public commenters asked the mayor to cancel contracts and urged the council to place a resolution on its next agenda. The council did not adopt any resolution or motion on the subject during this meeting.
