Detained immigrant escapes from ICE center in Tacoma

The Tacoma Police Department responded to a call from the Northwest ICE Processing Center Wednesday night asking for help finding an escaped detainee. The call came from the facility at 7:30 p.m.

Tacoma Police does not know whether this person has been found and taken back to the facility. KUOW has reached out to ICE and GEO Group, which manages the Tacoma detention center, for further comment.

“Probably 20 minutes from when they [Tacoma PD] arrived on scene that the officials from the detention center said that officers weren’t needed anymore, and that they'd be taking over the incident,” said Sgt. John Correa with Tacoma Police.

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“We would have detained that person for the crime… of escaping, not [how] the person got to the detention center, but for escaping the center itself,” Correa said. “We cleared the scene before they captured anybody.”

Immigrant advocates reported restricted conditions at the facility Thursday.

“Last night, GEO Group shut down all phone lines and prohibited movement inside,” read a social media post from La Resistencia, a group that advocates for shutting down the facility and releasing all the detainees to pursue their immigration cases outside of the detention center.

“There was an unscheduled call for an emergency count,” La Resistencia posted. “People were not allowed to receive their medicine due to restricted movement orders by GEO.”

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GEO group is a private company contracted by the Department of Homeland Security to run the Northwest ICE Processing Center. Its contract to run the facility ends in September.

This is a developing story. Check back for updates.