Federal judge authorizes health inspections at Northwest ICE Processing Center
Source: Yahoo! News/The News Tribune Tacoma, WA
Fri, July 10, 2026 at 8:00 AM EDT
A judge on Thursday sided with the State of Washington's request for the state health department to inspect the Northwest Immigrations and Customs Enforcement Process Center, following over 3,500 complaints from detainees about the center's conditions. Washington Gov. Bob Ferguson and Attorney General Nick Brown announced in April that the state would seek a federal court order to stop GEO Group from blocking state health department inspections of the facility.
GEO Group, one of the largest private prison operators in the nation, has blocked state health department inspectors from entering the facility 10 times, according to a news release issued Thursday by the state. In a legal response to the state's request filed last month, GEO Group argued that the state "sued the wrong party" and the motion would not succeed since ICE made the decision to deny access, according to court records.
The corporation also argued that allegations of public health concerns don't outweigh the federal government's compelling interest to control access to detention areas, court records say. "Granting the requested injunction would not merely permit a health inspection; it would displace ICE's access determination, interfere with federal custody operations, and compromise the orderly administration of a secure federal detention facility," the GEO Group's motion said.
U.S. District Court Judge Benjamin Settle granted the state of Washington's motion and the Washington Department of Health's motion for a preliminary injunction Thursday, the Washington Office of the Attorney General announced in a news release.
Read more: https://www.yahoo.com/news/us/articles/federal-judge-authorizes-health-inspections-120000275.html
Link to WA AG Brown NEWS RELEASE - Judge sides with WA, will permit health inspections at the GEO Groups Detention Facility
Links to ORDERS
https://agportal-s3bucket.s3.us-west-2.amazonaws.com/News%20Releases/20260709-GEO/073_OrdGrntgStatesMotPI_DenyDefsMTD.pdf?VersionId=LhOxIqv6lzKMXhZvesv_x8OHPKni68wp
https://agportal-s3bucket.s3.us-west-2.amazonaws.com/News%20Releases/20260709-GEO/095_OrdGrntgStatesMotPI_DenyDefsMTDCounterclaim.pdf?VersionId=hocnvDaZ1kVGj2XWSmv9X96iFU5okxco
littlemissmartypants
(35,905 posts)❤️
calimary
(91,686 posts)That says theyre really anxious to hide a few things. Or, frankly, even one. Hiding ANYTHING should set off alarm bells.
GiqueCee
(5,239 posts)... are as bad as ICE when it comes to flouting the law.
Well, a reckoning is coming your way, you evil psychopaths, and there will be no "Looking forward, not back", and no "Truth and Reconciliation", but there will be every bit as much mercy as ICE has shown to the innocent people they have murdered at the behest of the soulless monsters Trump appointed to carry out his malevolent schemes.
erronis
(25,174 posts)My little state of Vermont uses them - shipping prisoners across the country and paying huge sums to companies, because we can't take care of our own people.