2025 has been a time of escalating human rights crises, and many Washingtonians feel powerless to counter the rollback of protections driven by federal policy. However, Washington has demonstrated time and again that standing up for our values can change history. Now, as evidence mounts that state-sponsored disappearances are occurring within our state, ^[1] we must act urgently.  

Since March, the U.S. government has forcibly disappeared hundreds of men, transferring them to El Salvador’s notorious CECOT prison and other sites beyond the reach of law. Among them, at least two were “disappeared” from Washington state.^[2] And remarkably, at least one family was disappeared within Washington state: a six-person family of asylum-seekers was locked in a windowless Border Patrol holding room in Blaine, unable to inform family members or lawyers of their whereabouts, for over three weeks.

 

These constitute forced disappearances—grave violations of human rights—and are classified as crimes against humanity when systematically carried out against civilians. 

 

Methodology

• Document Disappearances: Working with local community advocates, we will interview people in ICE detention in Tacoma, tracking if and when they are transferred to other facilities in the ICE detention network, and documenting information “blackouts” when they disappear from the ICE Detainee Locator.^[3] We will contact family members when blackouts occur, and will follow up by phone following deportations. We have already successfully piloted this method in multiple individual cases: it’s hard work and requires daily records-checking, but possible with sufficient labor power. 
• Analyze and Publish Findings: While respecting individual privacy, we will release reports detailing disappearances and abuses, targeting stakeholders who can prevent recurrence. 
• Engage Stakeholders: Work alongside partner organizations to influence local institutions, such as King County’s oversight of deportation flights, and leverage Washington State’s unique positioning for national and international impact. 

 

Disappearances in Washington state

[pictures of people and blurbs about them with links to articles]

Alirio Guillermo Belloso Fuenmayor, a Venezuelan national, came to the U.S. in 2023 working at DoorDash, saving money for his family. In January, 2025 his immigration case was dismissed, he was apprehended by ICE and sent to the Northwest Detention Center in Tacoma, WA. In February he was told he would be deported. Assuming he would be sent back to Venezuela, he called his wife and daughter, preparing for their reunion. Instead, ICE put him on a flight to El Salvador and he is now held at the notorious max security prison, Centro de Confinamiento del Terrorismo (CECOT), with no ability to speak to his family, let alone lawyers or advocates. Because the U.S. government has withheld information on who has been sent to CECOT, his wife only found out he was there by watching publicized videos of detained people de-boarding the plane in El Salvador and confirming with a leaked list of names.

 

 

Tuan Thanh Phan, finished serving a prison sentence when ICE officers picked up from the Coyote Ridge Corrections Center in Connell, Washington, on March 3, 2025, and immediately put him into deportation proceedings. Tuan, and his wife Ngoc Phan, who met as kids living in the same Tacoma apartment building, were preparing for his deportation to Vietnam. Tuan signed his deportation papers to be sent to Vietnam. However the night before his flight, ICE told him they never filed his deportation papers for Vietnam and that he would be sent to South Sudan instead. With no ability to object to his deportation or demonstrate credible fear for his own safety, Tuan’s deportation process is a clear denial of due process. After a court order temporarily stopping the South Sudan deportation proceeding until those being deported can be seen before a judge, the plane stopped in Djibouti, where those aboard are currently held in limbo, unable to speak to family members and questionable access to lawyers.

 

A Seattle-area family of six, who would like to remain anonymous for fear of retaliation, endured 24 days of being held by Customs and Border Protection in a single, small, windowless cell in Blaine, Washington. The mother of the family, pregnant and in her third trimester, was detained with her partner and their four children aged 11 months to 13 years old. Not allowed to speak to lawyers, community members, or advocates, the family was held incommunicado for almost a month.

 

Who is complicit in forced disappearances?

While Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and Customs and Border Protection (CBP) are the primary actors in these crimes, their operations rely on a network of public and private institutions. Under international law, all entities complicit in this chain must take action to prevent further violations. Yet federal immigration authorities operate with such secrecy that many institutions remain unaware of their role, let alone inclined to intervene. Addressing this issue requires a coordinated effort of research and advocacy to document the chain of events, analyze findings, and hold all collaborators accountable. 

[some visual or list of key players and their roles]

 

Notes

^[1] There is consensus among human rights organizations that the 200+ men, mostly Venezuelans, who were sent to El Salvador have been forcibly disappeared (see Human Rights Watch on this here).  

^[2] Salvadoran human rights organization Cristosal has identified at least one of the men sent to El Salvador’s CECOT as having been disappeared from right here in Washington state (see here). We believe, but have not been able to confirm, that the person was Alirio Guillermo Belloso Fuenmayor; see here. Similarly, Pierce County resident Tuan Thanh Phan was put on a plane to South Sudan, in violation of a federal court order; it is now believed that he is being held incommunicado in Djibouti. See here. Under international law, the disappearance occurred in the last place the person’s presence in state custody was officially recognized, which means that both of these men were “disappeared” in Tacoma, Washington.  

^[3] This is a regular practice but has not been systematically documented. 

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