Trump administration sues Washington over refusal to issue covert plates to immigration agents

May 28-OLYMPIA - The Washington state Department of Licensing has refused to issue confidential license plates to some federal law enforcement agencies that conduct immigration enforcement, according to a lawsuit filed by the Department of Justice Thursday.

The lawsuit alleges the Department of Licensing has also requested that the Department of Homeland Security return previously issued confidential license plates and obtain new registrations and standard federal government license plates for vehicles.

The federal government alleges the policy has put law enforcement officers at risk while also reducing their ability to conduct covert operations. The lawsuit filed Thursday alleges the policy violates the Supremacy Clause of the United States Constitution.

State Attorney General Nick Brown wrote in a letter earlier this month that the state has discretion under the Constitution when choosing whether to issue undercover license plates, and that judges have found over the last 16 months that the Department of Homeland Security has "routinely violated the Constitution."

"Indeed, this conduct has resulted in the detention, injury, and death of many innocent people, including American citizens," Brown wrote. "The Supremacy Clause does not require Washington to affirmatively commit its resources to facilitate these lawless acts, which have provoked fear in our residents and undermined public trust in law enforcement."

According to the lawsuit, the Department of Licensing began to deny requests from DHS to issue or renew covert license plates in October. According to the Department of Justice, which filed the lawsuit in the Eastern District of Washington, agents from Homeland Security Investigations were notified in January that the state would not issue or renew confidential and undercover license plates for agencies related to DHS.

The plates are used to help conceal the identity of undercover agents. According to the lawsuit, confidential plates are used in operations including the apprehension of fugitives, surveillance, drug and fraud investigations, and the investigation of missing persons and missing child cases.

The suit says the policy does not apply to any other state or local agency. The Department of Justice filed similar lawsuits Thursday against the states of Maine, Massachusetts and Oregon.

"By denying undercover license plates to DHS components, including ICE, while issuing them to their own state agencies, these governors are pursuing discriminatory and obstructionist policies against federal law enforcement," acting Attorney General Todd Blanche said in a statement Thursday. "These actions undermine federal immigration enforcement, allow dangerous criminals to escape justice and terrorize American communities."

A spokesperson for the Washington Department of Licensing declined to comment on the lawsuit Thursday. Mike Faulk, a spokesperson for state Attorney General Brown, said Thursday the office "will review this suit with our state agency clients and defer to them for public comments for now."

Faulk provided a copy of a letter Brown sent to Assistant U.S. Attorney General Brett A. Shumate on May 22, responding to Shumate's request earlier this month that the state rescind the policy.

In a May 12 letter, Shumate wrote that the policy is "not only deeply dangerous as a matter of public safety, but also blatantly unlawful as a matter of constitutional law."

In the response, Brown wrote that the state Department of Licensing provides "hundreds of undercover plates" each year to federal agencies, including the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the Drug Enforcement Administration, the Marshals Service, and the Secret Service.

"The implication in your letter that Washington is denying undercover plates to all federal agencies and thereby potentially hampering federal criminal investigations into terrorism, fraud, and more is simply wrong," Brown wrote.

Brown added that "nothing in the law requires the State of Washington to accede to your unlawful demand to issue undercover plates to all federal agencies without limitation."

The lawsuit filed Thursday states that the Department of Homeland Security, and its subagencies, Immigration and Customs Enforcement and Customs and Border Patrol, were "conspicuously absent" from the list of agencies Brown said the state provides undercover plates to.

The lawsuit states that when unmarked vehicles can be traced to a federal agency, "the negative consequences for federal law enforcement officers can be immediate."

"Federal officers rely on confidential plates to investigate, monitor, and apprehend targets. They help officers avoid confrontations and evasions by those targets or other members of the public," the lawsuit states. "Taking away those plates requires officers to use public, consistent, and traceable plates. As a result, enforcement targets can sometimes track and evade law enforcement."

The Department of Justice is requesting that the policy be declared unconstitutional and that the federal government be awarded legal fees. A hearing in the case has not been scheduled.

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This story was originally published May 28, 2026 at 7:12 PM.