For years, Washington public health officials have tried to get inside of the Northwest ICE Processing Center in Tacoma to assess the conditions in which detainees are living. And every one of the seven attempts made by trained health workers since 2023 has been met with rejection.
The state Department of Health is now equipped with the legal authority to conduct inspections in privately owned facilities, thanks to the passage of House Bill 1470 in 2023, and a recent ruling from the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals upholding the law.
The DOH should make another attempt to inspect the facility as quickly as possible. In addition, the Legislature has opened the door for the DOH to establish rules that would ensure private facilities comply with standards providing sanitary, hygienic and safe conditions for detainees when it passed HB 1232 this spring. Under the new law, the DOH can establish rules governing healthy living and sleeping quarters and require basic personal hygiene items be provided at no cost to the detainee.
The facility is owned by the GEO Group, a company that brags on its website of operating with transparency. With more than 1,500 detainees, the Tacoma site is one of the largest facilities in the nation contracted by the federal government on behalf of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement to hold undocumented people — people who deserve justice and humane treatment.
A DOH inspection at least would help make sure they are getting clean water, medical attention, edible food and access to proper personal hygiene care. The only time health officials came close to doing an inspection was in August of 2024. Then, the Office of Drinking Water attempted to take a water quality sample inside the center in response to complaints about the water. The inspectors were denied entry and only allowed to take a water quality sample from the lobby bathroom sink.
The Tacoma detention center has a history of serious problems, including unexplained deaths. Nationally, 10 immigrants have died in federal custody since Jan. 1, according to The New York Times, including Chinese national Chaofeng Ge, who died Aug. 5 at the Moshannon Valley Processing Center in Pennsylvania. That center is also owned by the GEO Group.
Absent any action taken by Congress on the much-delayed Dignity for Detained Immigrants Act, first introduced in 2017 by Rep. Adam Smith, of Washington’s 9th District, the two new laws in Washington, coupled with the court’s ruling, should mean progress toward true transparency when it comes to incarcerated immigrants.
