FBI and Drug Enforcement Administration agents in Alaska are participating in U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement operations unfolding in Anchorage over the past few days, the agencies said Monday.
Since President Donald Trump took office two weeks ago, states around the country have reported increased immigration raids, arrests and mass deportations. But until now, the impact on Alaska hasn’t been clear.
In a post on X, the FBI’s Anchorage office included photos of agents working alongside ICE to detain what appeared to be at least two people. Two of the photos showed people in jail garb being led into the Anchorage headquarters of the Department of Homeland Security.
Another showed a person handcuffed in street clothes with homes in the background.
The DEA’s Seattle office also posted about actions in Anchorage, sharing photos of a person in a yellow Anchorage jail jumpsuit being led into ICE’s Fairview offices by DEA and Homeland Security agents.
The national U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement account on X reposted the DEA’s post saying “It’s always a pleasure teaming with our @DEAHQ and @TheJusticeDept partners to get criminal aliens out of American neighborhoods!”
The photos signal enforcement in Alaska, a state without the ICE presence of other, more populated regions, may be ramping up.
“I’m aware of more enforcement in the last week than what we usually see in a longer time period,” said Lara Nations, an Anchorage attorney who works on immigration cases.
It’s unusual for the DEA and FBI to participate in immigration enforcement in Alaska, she said.
It wasn’t clear who in Alaska had been detained, and what they were being detained for. It’s also not clear how many immigrants in Alaska have been detained.
The FBI’s Anchorage office did not directly answer questions about the specific nature of the immigration enforcement actions, but sent a statement, in response to questions from the Daily News, saying the agency has a “a long-established relationship” of working with the Department of Homeland Security, which oversees immigration enforcement, “on a variety of matters. We’re standing side-by-side with them to assist in their immigration enforcement operations as well. The FBI’s support may vary depending on what DHS needs.”
ICE and the Drug Enforcement Administration did not immediately respond to emailed questions.
In January, the Trump administration deputized thousands of federal law enforcement agents to arrest undocumented immigrants.
The #FBI Anchorage Field Office, along with our Department of Justice (DOJ) partners, is supporting the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) with their immigration enforcement efforts in #Alaska. @HSISeattle pic.twitter.com/eU1RIpKF0t
— FBI Anchorage (@FBIAnchorage) February 4, 2025
The FBI has helped ICE carry out raids in other states, including in El Paso, Texas and the Detroit area.
The extend of the current immigration crackdown in Alaska is hard to say.
Typically in Alaska, people picked up for immigration violations alone are sent to a local jail, then transferred to Anchorage, where they undergo processing by ICE and then are usually sent to the Anchorage Correctional Complex awaiting transport to the nearest immigration detention facility, which is in Tacoma, Wash., according to Nations, the immigration attorney.
They usually stay at an Alaska Department of Corrections facility for less than a week, she said.
Department of Corrections spokeswoman Betsy Holley said the state held 13 people in jails and prisons on contracts with ICE last year. Holley said she couldn’t immediately say how many have been held so far this year, or are currently being detained on behalf of federal immigration authorities.
Stories about immigration enforcement happening in Alaska are starting to surface, said Mara Kimmel, the executive director of the ACLU of Alaska. The organization has been planning for months for this, she said: Since December, the ACLU has held presentations aimed at giving noncitizens advice about interacting with immigration police. Families have also been encouraged to do “safety planning,” aimed at dealing with practical medical and legal contingencies if a family member is detained, she said.
“Even if you are a noncitizen, you have constitutional rights,” she said. “You know to not engage with law enforcement if they don’t have warrants, and so to be able to know what those rights are and exercise those rights is really important.”