ICE Arrested a Kenyan Visa Overstay Wearing a State Kids Agency Badge

A Kenyan national overstayed his tourist visa for seven years while working inside Washington's child welfare agency.

ICE finally caught him during a routine traffic stop outside Seattle, still wearing his government ID.

The agency now has to explain how a man who should never have been hired kept his job for two years.

A Jacket and an ID Card Gave Him Away During a Traffic Stop

Stanley Robert Kungu Muthee entered the United States on February 6, 2019, on a B-2 tourist visa.

He never left.

ICE's Seattle field office arrested him on a Monday traffic stop, and agents didn't have to dig for his employer.

Muthee was wearing a Washington State Department of Children, Youth, and Families jacket and carrying a DCYF identification card when agents pulled him over.

He admitted on the spot that he worked for the agency.

Fox News correspondent Bill Melugin broke the arrest, and there was no indication Muthee had ever filed for asylum.

A B-2 tourist visa is only supposed to last a few months.

Muthee turned it into a seven-year foothold that eventually landed him a government paycheck.

DCYF Says His Hiring Paperwork Looked Completely Legitimate

DCYF communications director Nancy Gutierrez confirmed Muthee had worked for the department since August 16, 2024.

She said he provided documentation at the time of hire that indicated he was authorized to work, including a USCIS number with no expiration date listed.

Gutierrez said the department had never been notified of any change in his immigration status.

That's the whole defense: the paperwork looked fine, so nobody looked twice.

Melugin noted that a work permit alone does not grant legal status and does not protect anyone from deportation.

Illegal immigrants who file asylum claims typically become eligible for a work permit within six months, he said, even though ICE can still detain and remove them at any time.

Nothing in DCYF's statement explains what Muthee's actual job duties were inside an agency responsible for the safety of Washington's children.

Washington Is Not the First State Caught Employing Illegal Workers in Child Care

This is not an isolated paperwork slip.

Three Portuguese women who had overstayed their visas were arrested after being charged in connection with the death of a one-year-old Rhode Island boy who was in their care.

Illegal immigrants showing up inside the exact systems meant to protect American children keeps happening because nobody treats hiring verification as a security question.

Washington's HR department had two years to catch what a traffic stop caught in minutes.

A USCIS Number With No Expiration Date Was All It Took

A USCIS number with no expiration date sounds official.

It is also exactly the kind of paperwork a motivated applicant can lean on for years without anyone asking a follow-up question.

Seven Years Is How Long It Took the System to Catch One Illegal Hire

ICE didn't mince words once the arrest went public.

"American taxpayer dollars should never pay the salaries of illegal aliens," the agency said in a statement.

That's not a slogan here.

It's a direct description of what happened for two straight years at a Washington state agency responsible for the safety of children.

A traffic stop did what seven years of background checks apparently could not.

DCYF has not said whether it plans to review other employees' immigration paperwork following Muthee's arrest.

Until it does, there's no way to know if he was the only one who slipped through.

Governor Bob Ferguson is the man who has to answer for that gap, not a DCYF spokesperson.

Ferguson has defended the Keep Washington Working Act, the state law limiting how much local and state agencies can cooperate with federal immigration enforcement, describing it as a law that protects Washington families.

He's made clear the state has no intention of changing that approach no matter how much pressure comes from Washington, D.C., even after a formal demand from then-Attorney General Pam Bondi to reverse course.

Muthee's arrest is exactly the kind of case Ferguson's law was never built to answer for.

State Senator Phil Fortunato and three Republican colleagues have introduced a bill to repeal the Keep Washington Working Act outright.

Fortunato argues the policy puts the state "at risk, both financially and in terms of public safety," pointing to the more than $21 million Washington spends every year jailing illegal felons alone.

Ferguson hasn't acted on that bill, and Muthee's old DCYF badge is now the argument Fortunato didn't have before.

Muthee is now one more name on a list that kept growing throughout fiscal year 2026, a year in which ICE says it removed more than 356,000 people nationwide.

A traffic stop should never be the only thing standing between a children's agency and an employee who has no legal right to be here.

Sources:

• Ward Clark, "ICE Busts Kenyan Illegal Working for WA Kids Agency," RedState, October 29, 2026.
• Fox News, "ICE Arrests Kenyan National Who Allegedly Worked at Washington State Child Welfare Agency While Illegally in U.S.," Fox News, October 2026.
• Fox News, "ICE Arrests 3 Portuguese Women Who Overstayed Visas and Are Charged in 1-Year-Old Rhode Island Boy's Death," Fox News, 2023.
• Washington State Senate Republican Caucus, "Senators Call on Governor to Repeal Sanctuary Policies," Washington State Senate Republican Caucus, 2026.