TACOMA — Gov. Bob Ferguson and Attorney General Nick Brown announced Tuesday they are asking a federal court to order The GEO Group to allow Washington Department of Health inspectors into the Northwest ICE Processing Center, the private immigration detention facility the company operates in Tacoma. The presser took place in front of the Northwest ICE Processing Center.
“The law is clear: We have the legal authority to inspect private detention centers in our state,” Governor Ferguson said. “GEO Group has continued to obstruct our efforts to conduct these critical health inspections. That is unacceptable. We’ve beaten GEO in court before, and we’ll beat them again.”
In a motion for a preliminary injunction filed Tuesday in U.S. District Court in Tacoma, the state argues that GEO is violating state law by blocking inspections required under a 2023 law aimed at ensuring health and safety standards at private detention facilities. The filing comes after Department of Health inspectors have been turned away at least 10 times, including twice since the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals lifted a preliminary injunction blocking key provisions of the law in March.
“GEO Group is not above the law: they must allow health inspectors to inspect the Tacoma facility,” Attorney General Brown said. “Washington law helps bring accountability and transparency to otherwise opaque private detention facilities. The fact that GEO Group resists basic health and safety inspections and refuses to follow the law should trouble all Washingtonians.”
The motion, filed in the ongoing case The GEO Group, Inc. v. Ferguson, No. 3:23-cv-05626-BHS, seeks to enforce Washington Revised Code § 70.395.050(2)(b). That provision, part of House Bill 1470, enacted in 2023 and amended by House Bill 1232 in 2025—both sponsored by Rep. Lillian Ortiz-Self (D-Mukilteo)—requires the Department of Health to investigate complaints at private detention facilities. The law sets basic health and safety standards for such facilities, including those run by for-profit operators like GEO.
GEO sued to block the law shortly after its passage, and a district judge initially granted a preliminary injunction on several provisions. But the 9th Circuit vacated that injunction in August 2025 in The GEO Group, Inc. v. Inslee, 151 F.4th 1107, and issued its mandate on March 4, 2026, after denying GEO’s request for a stay. The appeals court rejected most of GEO’s arguments, including claims of intergovernmental immunity and preemption, and noted that the law’s requirements largely mirror standards applied to other civil detention facilities such as residential treatment centers. A related 9th Circuit ruling in Nwauzor v. The GEO Group, Inc., 127 F.4th 750 (2025), similarly rejected GEO’s federal defenses to Washington labor laws.
Department of Health inspectors attempted to enter the facility on March 20 and April 20 to investigate complaints, according to the motion and declarations filed with it. On both occasions, facility administrator Bruce Scott and an ICE agent told them they needed permission from ICE’s Seattle office, which has not responded to the state’s requests. The state says it has received more than 3,500 complaints from people detained at the facility since 2024.
The complaints listed in the state’s motion today describe medical emergencies ignored, substandard and contaminated food, unsanitary conditions, and assaults by staff, the motion states. Specific allegations include food containing burned plastic, metal string, rope, splinters, hair, worms and bugs; trays served dirty; and raw meat that left multiple detainees sick—One complaint described dinner served with visible blood in the meat, after which about 15 of 54 people in a unit became ill.
Detainees have also alleged water that “tastes disgusting” and is avoided even by staff, who bring their own bottled water. Hygiene complaints include only two working bathrooms for roughly 100 people, dirty used underwear and socks issued to detainees, and bedsheets not washed after use by people sick with chickenpox or COVID-19.
Medical neglect allegations include a detainee released from a hospital but denied prescribed medication and given only ibuprofen, allowing his condition to worsen. Others describe ignored strokes, heart issues, asthma attacks and infections. Some detainees have reported sexual abuse and assaults, with complaints allegedly dismissed by staff.
Two people have died at the facility since 2024, and six more have attempted suicide, according to state officials.
The state feels the motion is likely to succeed on its merits because GEO’s refusal to allow inspections plainly violates state law and that no viable defense remains after the 9th Circuit rulings.
As attorney general, Ferguson previously sued The GEO Group over paying detainees $1 a day for work in violation of the state’s minimum wage law. A federal jury in 2021 awarded $23.2 million in consolidated cases, a verdict upheld by the 9th Circuit in January 2025. GEO is seeking U.S. Supreme Court review.
The request for the preliminary injunction is set for a hearing at the U.S. District Court Western District of Washington for May 26, 2026.
Author: Mario Lotmore
