Sen. Patty Murray on Wednesday accused federal immigration enforcement officials of attempting to coerce a longtime Seattle resident to sign a voluntary deportation form using threats of violence.
In a video posted on social media, Murray (D-Wash.) delivered an update on Eduardo Aguirre Esparza, who was detained by US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents last week.
The senator said that Aguirre Esparza, whom she described as “a local Seattle small business owner with no criminal history” and the husband of a US citizen, was taken to an ICE office in Tukwila, Washington, where he was held in a room for 10 hours.
ICE agents threatened to beat up a Seattle small business owner, married to a citizen, with NO criminal record unless he signed a “voluntary” departure.
I’m told there were cameras in the room.
I’m demanding any video and that Eduardo be brought home immediately. https://t.co/jMpYSh08WC pic.twitter.com/1GViRDhbmU
— Senator Patty Murray (@PattyMurray) July 29, 2026
“He was surrounded by 20 ICE agents, who were pressuring him to sign a voluntary departure,” said Murray. “They physically pushed him and threatened to beat him up if he didn’t sign it. This is disgusting.”
Murray said that she has learned that there are security cameras in the room where Aguirre Esparza was being held, and she demanded that ICE hand over any footage in its possession.
“What ICE is doing is illegal and disturbing,” Murray emphasized. “Eduardo is now being held in Texas, away from his family and his lawyers. I am demanding that [the US Department of Homeland Security] return Eduardo to Washington state now so he can get the due process everyone should expect in America.”
In a separate statement, Murray said that Aguirre Esparza has “deep ties to our local community” and “was working hard to pursue a legal pathway to lawful permanent residence.”
Aaron Reichlin-Melnick, senior fellow at the American Immigration Council, commented that Murray’s account of Aguirre Esparza’s detention “is a good reminder that some ‘voluntary’ departures people sign while detained by ICE are the product of coercion.”
“The worst incidents I’ve heard of over the years involve agents grabbing a person’s hands and forcing them to sign a piece of paper they can’t read,” Reichlin-Melnick added. “It’s a ‘voluntary’ removal.”
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