Northwest Detention Center Archives - Northwest Public Broadcasting

Private detention center operator files suit against Washington state

By Lauren Gallup July 21, 2023

Inside the Northwest ICE Processing Center in Tacoma, also known as the Northwest Detention Center. Photo courtesy of La Resistencia, May 2022.

The GEO Group, the operator of a private detention center in Tacoma, has filed a lawsuit against Washington opposing new legislation that would regulate private detention facilities in the state. With the signing of House Bill 1470 into law in May, the Washington State Department of Health was given the authority to do unannounced inspections of private detention Read More

Obtained documents reveal years of unsanitary conditions at the Northwest Detention Center

By Lauren Gallup February 7, 2023

Over 100 people participated in a hunger strike last week at the Northwest ICE Processing Center in Tacoma, known colloquially as the Northwest Detention Center. The strike ended on Feb. 5 after four days according to detention abolitionist group La Resistencia. Read More

Washington bill seeks to regulate solitary confinement

By Lauren Gallup January 6, 2023

Maria Leónides Pérez’s son, Santiago Ortuno Pérez, has been detained in the Northwest ICE Processing Center, also known as the Northwest Detention Center, in Tacoma for a little more than three years. During his time in detention, Ortuno Pérez has spent at least 10 months in segregation from the general population. He said he’s there now, and has been for 51 days, Read More

California legal decision could impact Washington law banning private detention of immigrants

By Lauren Gallup December 7, 2022

File photo. The Northwest Detention Center, run by the private GEO Group, is located in Tacoma. CREDIT: KOMO via AP

In September, the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit overturned legislation in California that had banned private detention in the state. Now Washingtonians are waiting to see how that decision could impact a similar statue here. Read More

Immigrant Advocates Express Concern Over Pending Deporation Of Person Detained In Tacoma

By Lauren Gallup August 25, 2022

Immigrant advocacy group, La Resistencia in Tacoma, has started a petition to block the pending deportation of a person detained at the Northwest Detention Center.Read More

Artist Creates Portraits For La Resistencia Of People Detained

By Lauren Gallup June 2, 2022

In an effort to bring awareness with art, artists have been creating portraits of people detained at the Northwest Detention Center in Tacoma since 2020. The portraits are posted on La Resistencia’s social media accounts, an organization working to end detentions and deportations.Read More

Visitation Reinstated At Detention Center In Tacoma

By Lauren Gallup May 24, 2022

Visitors are once again allowed in the Northwest Detention Center in Tacoma. Lauren Gallup reports it’s been more than two years since detained immigrants have received visitors to the facility.Read More

13 Detainees Begin Hunger Strike At Tacoma Detention Center

By Lauren Gallup May 13, 2022

Thirteen people at the Northwest Detention Center in Tacoma are on a hunger strike. Lauren Gallup reports. Read More

Defensores de inmigrantes piden que ICE vuelva a permitir visitas en centros de detención

By Lauren Gallup April 29, 2022

Defensores de inmigrantes piden que ICE vuelva a permitir visitas en centros de detenciónRead More

Immigrant Advocates Call For ICE To Again Allow Visitors In Detention Centers

By Lauren Gallup April 25, 2022

Immigration advocates are calling for detention centers to reinstate visitation rights that were taken away in March 2020 because of the pandemicRead More

Man Who Filed Petition For Release Deported

By Lauren Gallup March 7, 2022

Israel Arrascue, a man who had been detained at the Northwest Detention Center in Tacoma, was deported to Peru on February 28, according to Maru Mora-Villapando, of the immigrant advocacy organization La Resistencia.Read More

Over 80 New COVID Cases Announced At Detention Center In Tacoma This Month

By Lauren Gallup January 28, 2022

COVID cases continue to rise at the Northwest Detention Center in Tacoma. Read More

Ukrainians Detained At Northwest Detention Center In Tacoma May Be Facing Deportation

By Lauren Gallup January 28, 2022

This Wednesday, four Ukrainian nationals contacted La Resistencia to alert the grassroots immigrant advocacy group of their upcoming deportations from the Northwest Detention Center in Tacoma.Read More

Update On Petition For Release Filed At Northwest Detention Center In Tacoma

By NWPB News December 17, 2021

Israel Arrascue’s petition for release from the Northwest Detention in Tacoma was denied last week.Read More

Petition Filed For Release At Northwest Detention Center In Tacoma

By Lauren Gallup December 3, 2021

New DHS guidelines are giving some detainees at the Northwest Detention Center hope for an earlier release.Read More

GEO Group Says ICE To Decide On Booster Shots For Detainees

By Lauren Gallup November 13, 2021

Those detained at the Northwest Detention Center in Tacoma have yet to hear when they might receive their COVID-19 booster shots. Read More

Private Prison Ban Could Limit Federal Immigration Detention In The Northwest

By NWPB News March 5, 2021

An activist with the Yakima Immigrant Response Network holds a sign quoting Governor Jay Inslee as 88 federal detainees held by Immigration and Customs Enforcement board a plane headed south to El Paso, Texas, likely to be deported. CREDIT: ENRIQUE PÉREZ DE LA ROSA/NWPB

BY LILLY FOWLER / CROSSCUT Originally published March 2, 2021, on Crosscut.com After years of pressure from activists, the detention of adults and teens by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement […]Read More

People Detained In Tacoma Immigration Jail May Spend 2 Months Or Longer In Solitary

By Esmy Jimenez October 14, 2019

Raul holds a keychain, a gift from his daughter, at his apartment. “When you lose everything… you lose fear too,” he says in a thin voice. CREDIT: Megan Farmer/KUOW

Raul went on a hunger strike to protest jail conditions ... and then landed in solitary. It’s routine for ICE to put detainees in solitary to monitor their health but it's unclear if officials placed him there for that reason, or as a disciplinary action.Read More

Federal Judge Plans To Dismiss Case On Wages Of Detainees At Tacoma ICE Facility

By NWPB News September 24, 2019

A federal judge who previously ruled that Washington state could pursue its claim that immigration detainees must be paid minimum wage for work at a privately run, for-profit immigration jail said Tuesday he intends to reverse himself at the urging of the Trump administration.Read More

Man Dies After Attack Outside Federal Immigration Detention Center In Tacoma

By NWPB News July 13, 2019

A man armed with a rifle threw incendiary devices at an immigration detention facility in Tacoma early Saturday morning, then was found dead after four police officers arrived and opened fire, authorities said.Read More

Shelters For Immigrant Teens Expanded As Record Numbers Continue To Cross

By NPR News September 13, 2018

Over 12,000 immigrant teens are being held in shelters across the country. Record numbers continue to cross and the government is expanding shelter capacity to hold them.Read More

Trump Administration Proposes Rule To Allow Longer Detention Of Migrant Children

By NPR News September 7, 2018

Under the Flores settlement, immigrant minors can't be held in jail-like settings and can't be held for longer than 20 days. The government's move to circumvent that will likely end up in court.Read More

Parents Separated From Children At U.S.-Mexico Border Headed To Northwest Prisons

By Conrad Wilson June 9, 2018

In this June 4, 2018 photo, people seeking political asylum in the United States line up to be interviewed in Tijuana, Mexico, just across the U.S. border south of San Diego.

Over 100 men from Mexico, Honduras, Guatemala and El Salvador are being held at the federal prison in Sheridan, Oregon, according to an immigration attorney trying to gain access to the facility to provide legal counsel. ICE has contracted space for 130 beds at the federal prison in Sheridan and 209 beds at the SeaTac federal detention center in Washington.Read More

Reprieve Of Legal Aid For Some Immigrants In Tacoma Detention Center

By NWPB News April 26, 2018

There’s been a reprieve on a legal aid program for immigrants facing deportation at the Northwest Detention Center in Tacoma. U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions said workshops to help immigrants understand their rights can continue for now, while a review of the program continues.Read More

A Father, A Husband, An Immigrant: Detained And Facing Deportation In The Northwest

By NPR News January 25, 2018

Manuel, shown with his family, first came to the United States illegally more than two decades ago. He was one of the 143,470 immigrants arrested in the interior of the country last year by immigration authorities.

Manuel came to the U.S. two decades ago, one of 143,470 such people who were arrested in the country's interior last year. Most are ordered to leave. For six months, Manuel awaited his fate. What happened to this family here in the Pacific Northwest?Read More