U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, commonly known as ICE, arrested a Philippine national in Kodiak this week, according to a post on X on April 16. When contacted, the family declined to comment and asked for privacy so KMXT is not publishing his name. KMXT could not confirm his immigration status or if this was the only arrest made during the agency’s visit to the island.
Both Alaska State Troopers and Kodiak Police say ICE did not request any assistance for the arrest. The city’s police chief, Tim Putney, said that’s normal when federal agents plan arrests on the island.
“There are times they might need a patrol car to transport somebody,” he said. “But normally, they take care of all their logistics – so to speak – the paperwork and conducting the arrests.”
ICE presence is unusual for Kodiak though, and comes as the Trump administration has ramped up deportation activities. The agency also arrested a Mexican citizen in Sitka according to another post on X last month.
ICE posted on X that the Kodiak man was picked up over a previous conviction for sexual assault of a minor. According to court documents, he pleaded guilty after felony charges were filed in 2017. He was also a minor at the time and was in compliance with terms of his release per court records when he was picked up by ICE.
Margaret Stock, an Anchorage-based attorney and expert on immigration law, said it’s hard to get exact information about his particular case. But she said individuals picked up in these circumstances still have a right to a hearing with a judge and hire an attorney. Serious crimes are still a deportable offense even for legal immigrants.
“Ordinarily, when somebody gets charged with a crime in Alaska, after they finish their criminal case and they get out of criminal custody, at that point immigration steps in and tries to do the immigration court case – which is a civil matter,” Stock said.
The man is currently being detained at the Northwest Detention Center in Tacoma, Washington, according to ICE’s website.
Editor's note: a previous version of this article showed the detainee was being kept at the Anchorage Correctional Complex. It has been updated to reflect that he was moved to a detention center in Washington state.
