WA seeks to force ICE facility owner to allow state health inspections
Washington state health inspectors have repeatedly been prevented from entering the Northwest ICE Processing Center in Tacoma, despite state law and a federal court order granting such authority.
The state is now seeking a preliminary injunction to bar GEO Group, the Florida-based private prison company that owns and operates the immigrant detention facility, from blocking state health inspections.
Standing outside the facility Tuesday afternoon, Gov. Bob Ferguson and Attorney General Nick Brown announced the filing motion.
"Enough is enough," said Brown, surrounded by faith leaders, immigrant advocates and state lawmakers. "People are being harmed in this facility and inaction is no longer acceptable."
It's the latest turn in a yearslong battle over serious health and safety concerns at the jail-like facility that has pit local leaders and Washington officials against GEO Group and U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
The state Department of Health has received more than 3,500 complaints alleging substandard conditions within the facility, according to the state's motion filed Tuesday in federal court.
But inspectors have been unable to conduct proper investigations and offer specific directives and assistance to fix issues, leaving local and state leaders frustrated.
"We will not allow GEO Group's continued obstruction and brazen disregard for state law to go unchallenged," Ferguson said.
Washington State Department of Health inspectors have attempted to enter the Northwest ICE Processing Center 10 times since 2023. They were denied each time.
State officials said the most recent attempt to enter the facility was made April 20. Inspectors were trying to investigate reports of drinking water tasting and smelling foul, and were concerned about a possible increased risk of legionella in the water.
GEO Group told the inspectors to ask the Seattle ICE office for entry permission, but health inspectors had already sent such a request and not heard back.
"I do not believe we will ever receive a response from ICE's Seattle office, and we will not be permitted to enter the facility to investigate complaints if we return to the Tacoma facility," state health inspector Joseph Laxson said in a declaration to the court filed Tuesday.
The rejections came despite the state beating GEO Group in court over the issue of state health inspections.
In 2023, then-Gov. Jay Inslee signed a law allowing the state Department of Health to inspect private detention facilities. GEO Group sued the state in response, arguing that the state did not have authority to regulate a federal contractor.
A federal judge temporarily blocked enforcement of the law, but a three-judge panel of the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ultimately lifted the preliminary injunction in August, allowing state health inspectors to enter the facility.
State officials, however, said health inspectors have continued to be barred from entering the facility, even after GEO Group's subsequent request for a full panel rehearing was denied in February.
GEO Group has faced intense scrutiny for years over conditions at the facility, as community advocates, immigration attorneys, state health officials and academic researchers have documented numerous allegations of mistreatment, abuse and neglect. Several immigrants detained there launched hunger strikes, and some have tried to kill themselves. In 2018, one did.
Among the complaints to the state health department, nearly a thousand relate to water, food and air quality issues. People detained at the facility allege their meals have been contaminated with burned plastic, metal string, splinters, hair and bugs. Another 900 complaints relate to a lack of attention to medical needs.
Conditions are so dire that some immigrants at the facility - even some who have won protections to remain in the U.S. - choose to self-deport rather than remain at the detention center while the federal government appeals their case, said Malou Chávez, executive director of Northwest Immigrant Rights Project. The toll on their mental and physical health is too much to bear, she said.
"They're giving up," Chávez said.
The detention center currently has a contractual capacity of 1,635 beds. As of late March, there is no evidence ICE has plans to open a new detention center in Washington, but that hasn't stopped local officials from trying to brace for potential expansion plans and ban new detention centers.
While the facility's population has recently dipped after surging last year under the Trump administration's immigrant crackdown, conditions reportedly worsened.
Under the 2023 law, GEO Group must provide basic hygiene items, laundered clothes and sheets, clean living areas, fresh fruits and vegetables, free telecommunication services, and air conditioning and heat.
The state has the power to fine GEO Group for violating the law, and lawmakers considered earlier this year fining the company for blocking state inspections.
But Lauren Jenks, assistant secretary for environmental public health, said the state's approach isn't always punitive." For example, state officials have offered technical assistance on creating a water management plan to fix drinking water issues, which they believe may be caused by poorly maintained pipes in the aging facility.
The goal, she said, is "to get it right, to make sure that the people are safe."
Ferguson said it's too early to say whether the state would pursue criminal charges against GEO Group.
"I don't want to get ahead of anything," he said. "First things first, got to get inside.
The federal appeals court's ruling formally took effect March 4. GEO Group has until mid-May to file with the U.S. Supreme Court asking it to consider reviewing the case. A hearing date in federal court has yet to be set.
Material from The Seattle Times archives was used in this report.
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