Federal judge authorizes health inspections at Northwest ICE Processing Center [View all]

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