State regulators denied access to privately run ICE detention center in Tacoma

Washington state legislators passed a law mandating inspections of the Northwest ICE Processing Center last year, but state regulators have been unable to access the facility.

The ICE detention center sits on the tideflats in Tacoma, a squat warehouse, surrounded by a chain-link fence.

Inside, there could be anywhere from a few hundred to more than a thousand people who are either undocumented or have allegedly violated their immigration status in some way.

The facility is run by a private prison company, the GEO Group.

Washington lawmakers tried to close the facility by passing a law banning private prisons in 2021, but a 9th Circuit Court decision led the state to abandon that goal.

So, lawmakers went to work again in 2023 and passed House Bill 1470. The law required the state to inspect private prisons to ensure facilities meet health and hygiene standards.

The Department of Health received more than 300 complaints from detainees ranging from mistreatment by staff and inadequate medical care to food contaminated with foreign objects.

"Detainees have reported that their clothes are rarely laundered, and when they are washed, they've returned wet and dirtier than before," said Grace Deng, who wrote about this issue for The Washington State Standard.

Department of Health inspectors and Labor and Industries employees have attempted to enter the facility, but were turned away by GEO Group employees. GEO Group is challenging the law in court.

GEO Group argued that the law requiring inspections " interferes with federal immigration enforcement," Deng said. "They also say that fully complying with the law will put it in breach of its contract with ICE and would require building upgrades estimated to cost over $3 million."

The Department of Health is also suing GEO group for access to the facility.