FILE - A patch is shown on the uniform of a guard with the GEO Group Inc. during a media tour of the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement detention center Dec. 16, 2019, in Tacoma, Wash. The GEO Group is the private company that operates the center for the U.S. government.
Ted S. Warren / AP
The Northwest ICE Processing Center in Tacoma remains closed to state health inspectors despite a judge’s order two weeks ago opening the region’s largest immigrant detention center to state officials.
GEO Group, the independent contractor that owns the facility, requested an emergency pause on the order to allow state inspectors access to the facility. A judge in the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals granted a temporary stay on Tuesday, pending its decision on whether to allow a longer pause. The court could issue a new order on Aug. 7.
If the court decides the matter swiftly, health inspections could take place as soon as next month, said Ellen Range, Washington’s assistant attorney general.
GEO Group and its lawyers did not respond to requests for comment.
The company and the state have been locked in a back-and-forth court battle since 2023, when former Gov. Jay Inslee, a Democrat, passed a law authorizing the state health department to inspect private detention facilities. Since this law was passed, GEO Group has repeatedly denied health inspectors entry, saying the state does not have the authority to regulate a federal contractor.
The facility has, however, allowed the state’s Labor and Industries inspectors into the facility to assess working conditions for employees without approval from Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
The facility has received over 3,500 complaints about conditions inside the Tacoma facility, many of which include reports of contaminated food and water, unsanitary living conditions, and sexual assault. Last year, the center’s population rapidly increased to nearly full capacity due to President Trump’s immigration crackdowns, although the population has dropped again in recent months.
Gov. Bob Ferguson and Attorney General Nick Brown, both Democrats critical of the Trump administration’s immigration policies, have made it a priority to push GEO Group to allow health inspectors in.
“I want to be perfectly clear, we will not allow GEO Group’s continued obstruction and brazen disregard for state law to go unchallenged,” Ferguson said at a press conference outside the Tacoma facility earlier this year.
Sarah Mizes-Tan is a reporter with KUOW. This story comes to you from the Northwest News Network, a collaboration between public media organizations in Oregon and Washington.
It is part of OPB’s broader effort to ensure that everyone in our region has access to quality journalism that informs, entertains and enriches their lives. To learn more, visit our journalism partnerships page.
