Rick Larsen

One of my favorite Northwest bands has to be the Sonics. Washington has so much to offer, and it is my honor to represent Northwest Washington in Congress. https://t.co/2TM5glwQnE

Reports that U.S. Forest Service Law Enforcement Officers coordinated with ICE are concerning. I will continue demanding answers and hold this administration accountable. Read more: https://t.co/D0bbkSID9g

Ballots should arrive in your mail shortly. Make a plan to vote, and turn in your ballots as soon as possible. My team is out knocking doors, hearing from voters, and if you are interested in volunteering, head to https://t.co/TYcL8gGC8i and sign up today. https://t.co/PJJaIluuM7

Disaster aid should never be politicized. Ever. https://t.co/y2Xy3DtRMD

Thanks to the AAUW Stanwood-Camano and the Rotary Club of Stanwood-Camano Island for hosting a candidate forum this past week, where I detailed my top issues: affordability on groceries, gas, health care, child care, and housing, and accountability for the Trump administration. https://t.co/kEplOAWxSn

Good transportation keeps people moving and it keeps the economy moving in our state. Washington state deserves a rail network that is on par with our international competitors and counterparts to meet this growing demand. Read more: https://t.co/5AAhyHi36Y

Ballots are out! I just dropped off my ballot at the drop box in Everett. Make a plan to vote, sign your ballot, and drop it off as soon as possible. If you have to mail your ballot, do so more than a week before November 3. https://t.co/RjQlEyLMqL

Banned Books Week is here, and each day I will highlight a book that parts of the United States have attempted to ban. The final book of the week is The Grapes of Wrath, which details the Great Depression and follows the Joad family's harsh journey from Oklahoma to California. https://t.co/j6GjqJeWWZ

Today, Representative Rick Larsen (WA-02) released the following statement: “I am committed to getting answers for the people I represent about immigration operations in Northwest Washington. Today, I went to ICE’s Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) facility in Ferndale. This visit is a follow-up from my visit to ICE’s Enforcement and Removal Operations (ERO) facility in July. “I will continue to conduct robust, close oversight of Trump’s immigration enforcement in Northwest Washington. On questions that I was not able to get complete answers to from ERO and HSI, I will keep fighting for more information for the people I represent. “1. HSI was created to investigate human trafficking, financial crimes, narcotics and cross-border smuggling – not civil immigration violations. Agents told me that HSI staff were assigned to do ERO’s civil immigration enforcement in 2025 because ERO was not yet staffed up to fulfill Trump’s aggressive deportation agenda. I will be following up to get more information about HSI’s operations in 2025. I support HSI’s mission to stop child and drug trafficking, and HSI agents should do HSI work. “2. HSI agents said that while they were supporting ERO operations in 2025, they stopped at the start of this year. “3. HSI’s facility does have holding space for detaining people, and they told me they haven’t held anyone longer than four hours this year. They cannot hold an individual for more than 12 hours, and detained people have access to food, a phone room and medical treatment if needed. “This is not case-closed on oversight of ICE activity in our region. I will be following up with more questions for the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and ICE, and I will keep pushing for answers. I will keep fighting to cement humanity into U.S. immigration policy and to make sure ICE follows the same rules as every other law enforcement agency. “My office stands ready to help family members locate their loved ones in ICE custody and access legal services – call 425-252-3188 or go to larsen.house.gov/helping-you/visas-and-immigration.htm.” Larsen Fights to Hold ICE Accountable In July 2026, Rep. Larsen visited ICE’s Enforcement and Removal Operations (ERO) facility in Ferndale to get answers for the community about the facility’s operations. In June 2025, Rep. Larsen toured the privately-run ICE detention facility in Tacoma and met with Lelo Juarez, a Skagit County union leader and activist whom ICE detained in March 2025. In Congress, Rep. Larsen has refused to vote for legislation that would fund ICE without placing additional guardrails on the agency and requiring that ICE follow the same rules as every other local, state and federal law enforcement agency. Rep. Larsen supports strengthening accountability and oversight of ICE operations and DHS detention facilities, including:

It is Blue Friday, 12s! I am looking forward to another Seahawks win this Sunday! Go Hawks! https://t.co/MijqchhXmA

Banned Books Week is here, and each day I will highlight a book that parts of the United States have attempted to ban. The fourth book of the week is A Wrinkle in Time, in which Meg Murry, her brother, and their friend travel through the fifth dimension to rescue Meg's father. https://t.co/f7GWE5keKX

Last Friday, U.S. Representative Rick Larsen (WA-02) commented on the news that Canada is fast-tracking a new oil pipeline project that would increase oil tanker traffic in Larsen’s district: “This project is not ready for prime time, and speeding up the review process will only make that worse,” said Rep. Larsen in the Washington State Standard. “Canada’s plan to fast track this new oil pipeline project puts sensitive marine habitats at risk and raises the chance of a devastating spill occurring before the U.S. and Canada can put updated plans in place.” On July 2, the Government of Alberta announced a proposed new oil pipeline from Alberta to the Pacific Ocean that would transport 1 million barrels per day to an export terminal at Roberts Banks in British Columbia. Last Thursday, Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney designated the pipeline, now known as the Pacific Link, as a project of national interest, enabling a speedier regulatory review that could see pipeline design and construction underway by next fall. The new pipeline will increase tanker traffic in Haro Strait and Boundary Bay in the Salish Sea, and with it the risks for catastrophic oil spills impacting sensitive marine environments. “The people I represent have serious concerns about this new pipeline and how it could harm the Salish Sea,” continued Rep. Larsen. “They deserve answers to their questions and updated spill response plans that account for more oil tanker traffic, and I will keep fighting to get them both." Last month, Rep. Larsen’s staff observed a joint exercise between the U.S. Coast Guard and the Canadian Coast Guard designed to simulate response efforts and coordination between the two countries in the event of an oil spill in shared waters. “This type of collaboration across the border between the U.S. and Canada is even more critical because of Canada’s plans to ship more oil in the Salish Sea with the proposed new Alberta to B.C. pipeline,” said Rep. Larsen. “I have concerns about the potential impacts of this proposed pipeline, including on tanker traffic in the Salish Sea, and I am glad that my staff could observe the exercise to ensure that there are relationships and procedures in place that benefit both countries in the event of a disastrous spill.” Rep. Larsen is the top Democrat on the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee, which has oversight authority over the U.S. Coast Guard. In July, Rep. Larsen sent a letter to Admiral Kevin E. Lunday, Commandant of the Coast Guard, to insist that the Coast Guard review and update its oil spill preparedness plans in light of the new proposed pipeline. Larsen also pressed Coast Guard officials on their awareness of the new Canadian pipeline and how it would implicate existing oil spill prevention plans at a committee hearing. A video clip from that hearing can be found here, and the recording of the entire roundtable can be found here. The Washington State Standard article is available here and below. A proposed Canadian oil pipeline to a supertanker terminal at the Port of Vancouver in British Columbia is raising hackles among Washington state’s political leaders. Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney on Thursday designated the West Coast Oil Pipeline, now known as the Pacific Link, as a project of national interest. That enables a speedier regulatory review that could see pipeline design and construction under way by next fall. In response, Washington Gov. Bob Ferguson on Friday sounded alarms about increased oil spill risk to the Salish Sea in his first public comments on the massive project. The Carney announcement wasn’t a surprise. In July, the prime minister and Alberta Premier Danielle Smith talked of fast-tracking the proposed 775-mile pipeline capable of carrying one million barrels of crude oil a day. It would run from the Edmonton region to a new export terminal capable of handling supertankers proposed for Port of Vancouver’s Roberts Bank in British Columbia just north of the U.S. border. Oil could flow through by the early 2030s. Once operating, many more oil-filled vessels traveling from the port would pass by the San Juan Islands and Olympic Peninsula on their way to Asia. Project critics fear a spill could easily reach north Puget Sound, the Strait of Juan de Fuca and Washington’s outer coast, threatening sensitive ecosystems and killer whale habitat. Ferguson said Friday that he was “disappointed” at the decision because resources needed to respond to a major spill are insufficient today. “If a project of this scale is going to proceed, it needs to come with a corresponding commitment to also increase our region’s capacity to prevent and respond to a catastrophic spill,” he said in a joint statement with Casey Sixkiller, director of the state Department of Ecology. Ferguson said the size of the oil supertankers envisioned for the route are unprecedented, and have been barred from Washington ports since the 1970s. Their capacity of 92 million gallons of oil is eight times the volume of oil spilled by the Exxon Valdez, he noted. “If this project proceeds, it is critical that the Canadian government make detailed commitments to safeguard our shared marine waters and fill these gaps in our response capabilities,” he and Sixkiller said in the statement. San Juan County council members, northern Washington tribal representatives and others have been pushing Ferguson since July to speak out and engage with the Canadian provincial and federal governments about the crude pipeline and tanker traffic. On Tuesday, Ferguson met with Mark Wiseman, Canada’s ambassador to the U.S. in Seattle. It is not known if the two discussed the pipeline and Ferguson’s office did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the meeting. Sixkiller dispatched a lengthy letter to Canadian Intergovernmental Affairs Minister Dominic LeBlanc in mid-September in a vain bid to forestall the fast-tracking of the Alberta pipeline permitting. U.S. Rep. Rick Larsen of Everett, whose 2nd Congressional District includes the state waters through which the supertankers would travel, was equally vexed. Many questions about the project and oil spill response need answers, he said. “This project is not ready for prime time, and speeding up the review process will only make that worse,” he said in an email. “Canada’s plan to fast track this new oil pipeline project puts sensitive marine habitats at risk and raises the chance of a devastating spill occurring before the U.S. and Canada can put updated plans in place.” The project comes as Canada looks to strengthen its economic ties beyond the U.S. and as Carney has said the nation is seeking to become an “energy superpower.” Smith has said the province chose a southern pipeline route that ends on the shores of the Salish Sea because it can take advantage of the existing Trans Mountain Pipeline corridor as well as established relationships with First Nations. “It would be reasonable to expect that a project with the potential to shape the environmental, economic, and social future of a region for decades to come would face an especially rigorous level of scrutiny. Instead, this project is being fast-tracked without any concern for its long-term impacts on ecosystems, communities and the people who depend on them,” she wrote in an update to supporters Friday.

This past week, Rep. DelBene and I participated in the Carl Gipson Speaker Series. I have long been committed to supporting care for our seniors and to strengthening Social Security and Medicare, and I am focused on affordability for you, accountability for the administration. https://t.co/wmRi6aUILS

If Democrats win the majority, we can begin to hold the Trump administration accountable. This includes reversing costly tariffs to lower prices of everyday goods and holding ICE accountable. Affordability for you, accountability for the Trump administration. https://t.co/Zje3ov928N

It is Banned Books Week. Each day, I will highlight a book that is banned in parts of the United States. The third book of the week is Catcher in the Rye, a 1951 novel that explores themes of identity, alienation, and the struggles of adolescence. https://t.co/zRG6dd3xox

I am honored to be endorsed by @GIFFORDS_org, Moms Demand Action, and @WaGunResponsib. https://t.co/lPDT6O4637

Banned Books Week is here, and each day I will highlight a book that parts of the United States have banned. The second book of the week is Animal Farm, a classic satirical novella about farm animals who overthrow their human owner and take over the farm. https://t.co/VhqHh1W9LM

Banned Books Week is here, and each day I will highlight a book that parts of the United States have banned. First is Fahrenheit 451, a novel about Guy Montag, whose job is to burn outlawed books in a society that values shallow media and conformity over critical thinking. https://t.co/8ncEdRg2pe

Today, U.S. Representatives Rick Larsen (D, WA-02), Emily Randall (D, WA-06), Kim Schrier, M.D. (D, WA-08), Suzan DelBene (D, WA-01), Jared Huffman (D, CA-02), Ranking Member of the House Natural Resources Committee, Adriano Espaillat (D, NY-13), Chairman of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus, Andrea Salinas (D, OR-06), Adam Smith (D, WA-09), Val Hoyle (D, OR-04), Marilyn Strickland (D, WA-10), Suzanne Bonamici (D, OR-01), and Pramila Jayapal (D, WA-07) sent a letter to U.S. Forest Chief Tom Schultz demanding transparency regarding immigration enforcement activities on U.S. Forest Service (USFS) lands. This letter comes after a shocking incident over Labor Day Weekend where U.S. Forest Service Law Enforcement Officers (LEO) coordinated with Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents to arrest five men who were camping with their families in Mount Baker-Snoqualmie National Forest. As of October 5, 2026, four of the five men arrested remain in detention at the Tacoma NW ICE Detention Center. “As Members of Congress representing the Pacific Northwest and Democratic leadership of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus, the House Natural Resources Committee, and the House Agriculture Committee, we are concerned that the U.S. Forest Service (USFS) is misusing taxpayer dollars by neglecting their mission and directing career staff to prioritize immigration enforcement on federal public lands. Particularly during a difficult wildfire season, we want to express our gratitude to the Forest Service for fighting wildfires in the Pacific Northwest and across the country,” wrote the members. The U.S. Forest Service has undergone significant funding cuts and reorganizations efforts since the start of Trump’s second term. Since 2025, the USFS has lost nearly 6,000 workers through DOGE cuts and other factors, raising concerns about wildfire preparedness, forest health research, and public land management. Earlier this year, USFS announced consolidation efforts to shutter research and development facilities nationwide. USFS backtracked on their original proposal to close 57 out of 77 research labs after public outcry. In September 2026, USFS announced they will be closing 23 labs. The 2026 wildfire season is still underway, and Washington state has recorded one of the worst wildfire seasons to date with almost 900,000 acres being burned as of early September. The members conclude the letter by demanding answers to the following questions by October 15, 2026: Which agency first identified those arrested as targets for investigation, when were they identified, and what information about the targets was used to justify the raid? Can you confirm that the law enforcement officers that first approached the families were employees of the USFS? To what extent did USFS participate in the raid, and under what authority? Please provide any agreement or memorandum that governs cooperation between the U.S. Forest Service and DHS. Please provide any agreement or memorandum between the U.S. Forest Service and DHS that governs the collection and sharing of visitors' identification and reservation data with DHS or ICE. What other immigration raids has the U.S. Forest Service participated in since January 21, 2025? What appropriations account(s) has the USFS used to fund its participation in immigration enforcement operations since January 21, 2025, and how much funding has been obligated or expended for this purpose? Has any USFS law enforcement personnel time, budget, or resources been reallocated from other law enforcement priorities (e.g., resource protection, search and rescue, wildfire-adjacent enforcement) to support immigration enforcement operations? If so, how much of this reallocation has been disclosed to Congress since these funds were appropriated for land management and resource protection purposes rather than immigration enforcement? Given limited agency resources, why is it a priority of the USFS to use employees in the targeting of families on public land? The full text of the letter is available here. ###

29 days stand between us and Election Day, with ballots arriving in less than two weeks. My team and I are continuing to knock on doors and let voters know what is at stake: affordability for you, accountability for the President and his administration. https://t.co/CktDod72ci

It is 30 days till election day. Make sure you are registered to vote today at https://t.co/SSaJDMkHg3. As my grassroots campaign heads towards November 3, I am focused on affordability for you and accountability for this administration, and I hope to earn your support. https://t.co/I8tg6qkjwd

Thanks to the Point Roberts Voters Association for hosting a candidate forum last week. Prices are far too high due to the tariffs on Canada, and communities like Point Roberts need relief. I am focused on affordability for you and accountability for this administration. https://t.co/Y54g0cbJ7O

My grassroots campaign is reaching voters all across Northwest Washington, including Point Roberts. https://t.co/qnMjqWXMvF

Yesterday, U.S. Representatives Rick Larsen (WA-02) and Mark Veasey (TX-33) reintroduced the America Votes Act to protect U.S. citizens who face disenfranchisement because of restrictive voter identification (ID) laws. “As Trump and Republicans in Congress continue their unlawful attempts to suppress the right to vote, it is more urgent than ever to break down barriers to the ballot box,” said Rep. Larsen, a co-founder of the Congressional Voting Rights Caucus. “This bill builds on Washington state’s successful efforts to safeguard election integrity while getting rid of laws that disenfranchise citizens and prevent people from fully participating in democracy.” “Voter ID laws are being sold as a solution to a problem that doesn't exist, and the people paying the price are eligible voters, especially in communities of color,” said Rep. Veasey, a founder and co-chair of the Congressional Voting Rights Caucus. “The America Votes Act protects every registered voter's right to cast a regular ballot by affirming their identity under oath. It's common sense, and it's time for Congress to act to protect the vote for all Americans.” Despite claims that restrictive voter ID laws are necessary to prevent voter impersonation, there is no evidence of widespread voter fraud in the United States. Some state legislatures across the country continue to use excessively restrictive voter ID laws to target and deny certain Americans the right to vote. Restrictive voter ID laws disproportionately impact Black and transgender Americans, perpetuating the systematic disenfranchisement of certain groups in the United States. In 2026, a total of 36 states require voters to show identification to cast a ballot, and 24 of those states require voters to present identification with a photograph. These identification requirements are in addition to those under federal law to register to vote. The America Votes Act would establish new federal protections for registered voters to affirm their identity by submitting a sworn, written statement, even if they do not have a government-issued ID. Voters who sign a sworn, written statement can vote using a standard, non-provisional ­­ballot. The legislation is modeled on a successful Washington state law that allows voters to affirm their identity by submitting a similar written statement along with their mail-in ballot. The full text of the America Votes Act is available here. The America Votes Act is cosponsored by Representatives Eleanor Holmes Norton (DC-AL), Jan Schakowsky (IL-09), Hank Johnson (GA-04), Nanette Barragán (CA-44), Betty McCollum (MN-04), André Carson (IL-07), and Julia Brownley (CA-26). Larsen Fights to Protect Voting Rights Rep. Larsen is a strong advocate for free and fair elections, expanding access to the ballot and Washington state’s vote-by-mail system. He has visited or plans to visit election offices in every county of Washington’s Second Congressional District to discuss the importance of safeguarding the right to vote with local officials ahead of this November’s elections. Larsen first introduced the America Votes Act in 2012. The bill was included in the For The People Act, sweeping legislation to expand access to the ballot box, get dark money out of politics, end partisan gerrymandering and hold elected officials accountable to their voters. The For The People Act passed the House in 2021 but did not receive a vote in the Senate after Republicans blocked its passage. ###

Washington has one of the strongest vote-by-mail systems in the country. Make your plan to vote now, return your ballot early, and encourage your friends and neighbors to do the same. Read more: https://t.co/xsCNh1XT4A