Washington Officials Take Legal Action to Force Health Inspections at Troubled ICE Detention Center

Washington State’s top legal officials are escalating their fight for accountability at the Northwest ICE Processing Center, a private detention facility run by The GEO Group. On April 28, Gov. Bob Ferguson and Attorney General Nick Brown filed a court motion demanding that GEO comply with state law and allow unannounced health inspections by the Washington Department of Health.

This legal move comes after inspectors were turned away ten times, including twice since a court affirmed the state’s inspection authority. The stakes could not be higher: since 2024, two detainees have died at the Tacoma facility and six more have attempted suicide.

The GEO Group’s refusal to cooperate raises serious red flags. According to more than 3,500 complaints from detainees, conditions inside the facility are nothing short of cruel and neglectful. Reports describe medical emergencies being ignored, food contaminated with plastic, metal, worms, and even raw meat served to hungry detainees. Drinking water is reportedly unsafe, and access to clean clothes and hygiene supplies is severely restricted. One detainee recounted receiving dirty underwear that belonged to someone else.

The facility’s neglect extends to sanitation failures, with only two working bathrooms for about 100 detainees at times, and unwashed bedding after infectious disease outbreaks like chickenpox and COVID-19. Medical care is alarmingly inadequate; one detainee was denied prescribed medication after a hospital stay and given only ibuprofen, worsening his condition.

Disturbingly, detainees have also reported abuse and sexual assault by staff, with one woman describing multiple incidents and the trauma they caused.

This is not GEO Group’s first legal battle in Washington. Gov. Ferguson previously sued the company for paying detainees just $1 per day for labor, a practice ruled illegal by a federal jury in 2021. The court ordered GEO to pay $23.2 million, a decision upheld by the Ninth Circuit in 2025. GEO is now seeking Supreme Court review.

Washington’s 2023 law (HB 1470) was designed to bring transparency and enforce health and safety standards in private detention centers. But GEO’s ongoing resistance to inspections undermines these efforts and endangers detainees’ lives.

As ICE detention numbers have surged by 70% since the start of Trump’s second term, and with 46 deaths reported in custody since then— the highest in 20 years—this fight for oversight is a critical front in the battle against the abuses of the immigration detention system.

Gov. Ferguson and Attorney General Brown’s lawsuit is a clear message: private detention operators cannot operate in the shadows, endangering human lives with impunity. Washington is demanding transparency, accountability, and humane treatment for those trapped inside these walls.