As one lawsuit against Tacoma immigration detention center ends, another ramps up
A state Department of Health lawsuit seeking to gain entry and conduct inspections at a federal, privately-run immigration detention facility in Tacoma was dismissed on Monday.
The department filed suit against The GEO Group, the company that runs the Northwest ICE Processing Center, after both state health and workplace officials were repeatedly denied access to the facility in late 2023. It’s one of several cases where the state and GEO are battling over Washington’s power to regulate the controversial facility.
In the Department of Health’s case, both parties agreed to voluntarily dismiss the case, which was before Judge Benjamin Settle in federal district court in Tacoma. But the department on Monday pointed to a new lawsuit it filed in August against GEO after an agency official was denied entry at the detention center again in July.
The department filed its latest suit in Thurston County Superior Court. GEO is pushing to have the case moved to the same federal court where the dismissed case played out, and the two sides are now arguing over this before the same federal judge who oversaw the earlier dispute.
https://washingtonstatestandard.com/2024/09/09/as-one-lawsuit-against-tacoma-immigration-detention-center-ends-another-ramps-up/