Washington Officials Demand Court Order to End ICE Contractor’s Blockade of Health Inspections at Tacoma Detention Center

Washington state officials are escalating their fight to expose the inhumane conditions inside the Northwest ICE Processing Center in Tacoma. Governor Bob Ferguson and Attorney General Nick Brown have filed for a court injunction to stop GEO Group, the private company running the detention center, from blocking health inspections by the state Department of Health.

Since 2023, GEO Group has denied access to state inspectors despite at least 10 attempts and over 3,500 complaints from detainees. These complaints include rotten food, water contamination, filthy living spaces, and a shocking lack of functioning bathrooms. More than 100 reports of assault have also surfaced, alongside multiple deaths, including two in 2024 linked to inadequate medical care and a suicide in 2018.

Attorney General Brown condemned GEO Group’s refusal to cooperate as a blatant violation of the law and a betrayal of Washington residents’ right to transparency. “People are being harmed in this facility, and inaction is no longer acceptable,” Brown said. “By refusing to let inspectors do their job, the GEO Group is violating the law and sending the message that Washingtonians don’t deserve to know what is going on in their facility.”

The legal backdrop is a 2023 state law signed by former Governor Jay Inslee, granting Washington’s health department authority to inspect private detention centers. GEO Group challenged the law, claiming federal contracts exempt them from state regulation, and initially won a court block. That block was lifted in August 2023, yet GEO Group has continued to bar inspectors.

Governor Ferguson emphasized the state’s legal right and moral duty to ensure detainees’ health and safety. “We will not allow GEO Group’s continued obstruction and brazen disregard for state law to go unchallenged,” he declared.

If the court grants the injunction, state inspectors will gain entry, and GEO Group could face fines of $10,000 for each day of denied access. In cases where immediate health hazards are found, the state could move to shut down the facility entirely.

Representative Lillian Ortiz-Self, who sponsored the inspection law, expressed frustration with GEO Group’s ongoing defiance. “They have ignored every complaint, every concern we have raised,” she said. “They just feel like they can continue to push us. But they are not above the law.”

Ortiz-Self stressed that regardless of immigration status or legal circumstances, detainees deserve humane treatment free from assault, starvation, or poisoning. “They’re human beings,” she said. “They don’t deserve that.”

With the health and dignity of hundreds at stake, Washington’s officials are pushing hard to pierce the secrecy surrounding ICE detention practices. This legal battle is a crucial front in exposing and ending abuses that have persisted unchecked for years.