Washington State Moves to Force Tacoma ICE Detention Center to Allow Health Inspections Amid Mounting Abuse Complaints

Washington state officials are escalating their fight to hold the privately run Northwest ICE Detention Facility in Tacoma accountable for rampant neglect and abuse. Governor Bob Ferguson and Attorney General Nick Brown filed a motion in federal court Tuesday demanding the facility stop blocking health inspectors from entering and evaluating conditions.

The move comes after the Department of Health has been denied entry nine times since a 2023 state law empowered inspectors to access private detention centers. The most recent denial occurred on March 20, despite a federal court ruling last November affirming the state’s right to inspect. GEO Group, the private corporation operating the facility, told inspectors to seek permission from ICE — which never responded.

This legal standoff follows a flood of complaints from detainees and advocates documenting systemic mistreatment. Advocacy group La Resistencia has collected over 2,000 grievances about substandard food, inadequate medical care, and violations of religious rights, including Muslim detainees receiving non-halal meals and disruptions during Ramadan fasting. The Department of Health reports a total of 3,500 complaints.

KING 5 obtained 911 call records revealing frequent medical emergencies inside the facility — seizures, chest pains, and mental health crises — that onsite medical staff reportedly could not manage. Governor Ferguson and Attorney General Brown highlighted reports of rotten or undercooked food, contaminated drinking water, pervasive mold, and unclean laundry.

“This is a privately owned and operated business profiting off detaining people in cruel and neglectful conditions,” said Brown. “People are being harmed in this facility and inaction is no longer acceptable.”

The GEO Group is expected to appeal the state’s request for a preliminary injunction to compel inspections. Meanwhile, detainees remain trapped in a facility where oversight is obstructed and abuses persist unchecked.

This latest legal challenge exposes the dangerous consequences of privatizing immigration detention. When profit motives shield facilities from transparency and accountability, human rights violations become routine. Washington’s push to enforce inspections is a critical step toward ending the cruelty behind locked doors.