Judge says health inspectors must be admitted into Washington ICE lockup

(CN) — A federal judge on Thursday ordered private prison company GEO Group to admit Washington Department of Health inspectors to the Tacoma detention center it operates under contract with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

Senior U.S. District Judge Benjamin Settle granted Washington’s request for a preliminary injunction barring GEO Group from refusing state inspectors access to the Northwest ICE Processing Center, where ICE detains individuals awaiting immigration proceedings.

The judge, a George W. Bush appointee, stayed his order for two weeks to give GEO Group an opportunity to appeal. The injunction does not apply to ICE-controlled administrative and medical areas of the facility.

Settle rejected GEO’s argument that ICE is a necessary and indispensable party to the case, which GEO filed three years ago in response to a state law requiring basic health and safety standards at private detention facilities and authorizing state health inspectors to inspect them.

“If ICE were the real party in interest, it would have been a plaintiff, and it has had every opportunity to appear and defend the counterclaim,” Settle said, referring to Washington’s counterclaim seeking an injunction requiring GEO to allow inspectors into the Tacoma facility.

“GEO does not assert, or cite any authority for the proposition that, a federal contractor enjoys immunity from state law to the same extent that the federal government does,” the judge said. “GEO cannot, because a federal contractor does not.”

GEO also argued that the U.S. Supreme Court’s 1940 decision in Yearsley v. W.A. Ross Construction Co. shields federal contractors from liability for conduct the federal government directed them to perform, such as refusing state health inspectors per ICE’s instruction. But Settle said the defense applies only to lawful conduct.

“For the purpose of the Yearsleydefense, the primary question is whether ICE lawfully authorized GEO to deny state inspectors access to the facility,” Settle said. “The Court concludes it did not.”

In its 2023 counterclaim, Washington says it received thousands of complaints from detainees at GEO’s Tacoma facility over the previous three years. The complaints range from inadequate medical care and substandard food to unsanitary conditions and assaults by staff members.

Two years ago, Settle granted GEO’s request for a preliminary injunction blocking enforcement of portions of the law, finding it unlawfully singled out the Tacoma detention center because it is the state’s only private detention facility.

The Ninth Circuit vacated that ruling last year and sent the case back to the district judge to reconsider whether the statute is discriminatory.

In Thursday’s decision, Settle reversed course, concluding the health and safety requirements governing GEO’s facility are not discriminatory because similar requirements apply to residential treatment facilities and private involuntary commitment centers.

The Tacoma processing center in one of the largest ICE detention facilities in the country. Most people held there are civil immigration detainees awaiting administrative proceedings. Some lack legal status in the United States, while others are lawful permanent residents, including some with work authorization.

In 2023, Washington lawmakers passed House Bill 1470, directing state agencies to regulate private detention facilities in the same manner as state prisons. The law requires standards including adequate food, basic hygiene and a safe environment.

Later that year, GEO sued former Washington Governor Jay Inslee and then-Attorney General Bob Ferguson, claiming the law violated the U.S. Constitution’s Supremacy Clause and unlawfully discriminated against the company.

Attorneys for GEO Group and representatives for the Washington Attorney General’s Office did not immediately respond to requests for comment Thursday.

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