Latest news with #HouseBill1232
Yahoo
14-05-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Trio of immigrant rights laws signed by WA governor
Gov. Bob Ferguson signed a trio of bills on Monday related to protecting immigrants in Washington state. (Photo by Jacquelyn Jimenez Romero/Washington State Standard) Gov. Bob Ferguson signed three bills to protect immigrant rights this week. These included measures to strengthen state power to inspect private detention facilities, prevent coercion in the workplace, and prohibit bail bond agents from enforcing immigration laws. Lawmakers put forward the legislation at a time when President Donald Trump is trying to crack down on people crossing into the country illegally and as his administration presses to deport immigrants already in the U.S. without legal authorization. Here's a look at what the new state laws would do. State lawmakers have been pushing for greater transparency at the for-profit immigrant detention center in Tacoma. Previous efforts on this front have landed the state in court battles with the for-profit company that operates the facility, The GEO Group. House Bill 1232 is the latest attempt to pave the way for the state's Department of Health to inspect the Northwest ICE Processing Center and enforce compliance with state and federal laws there. It establishes additional standards for such facilities in areas like sanitation, ventilation and medical care, along with new safeguards against abuse. The bill also expands the definition of private detention facilities to include those run by nonprofit organizations after The GEO Group, which runs the Tacoma facility, claimed to be singled out under existing law. The nonprofit Martin Hall Juvenile Detention Facility, near Spokane, will now join the list of these facilities. Rep. Lillian Ortiz-Self, D-Mukilteo, sponsor of the bill, said she hopes this legislation demonstrates the state is not targeting a single facility. The law is effective immediately. There is often limited recourse for immigrant workers facing threats or being exploited by their employer. Senate Bill 5104, sponsored by Sen. Bob Hasegawa, D-Seattle, intends to give immigrant workers better tools when facing coercion in the workplace. The bill would require the state's Department of Labor and Industries to investigate complaints of coercion and would allow the agency to impose civil penalties when violations occur. Coercion differs from retaliation because it happens before an employee raises an issue. Retaliation happens after the employee does so. During the complaint process, when a worker files a complaint, the department will notify the employer, but language in the bill was added to make a worker's personal information confidential to anyone other than the department and the employee. 'Every Washington worker can and should feel safe to report workplace injustices without fear of coercion or retaliation of any kind,' Ferguson said at the bill signing. The bill would take effect on July 1. Following an incident in January during a public meeting in Sunnyside, a person claiming to be a 'bounty hunter' said that U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement would soon use bail bond agents to arrest people in the U.S. without legal authorization and pay them $1,000 for every arrest. ICE had detained two people in Sunnyside around this time. Senate Bill 5714 would expand the list of unprofessional conduct for bail bond agents to include enforcement of a civil immigration warrant. The Department of Licensing could take disciplinary action against agents found to be in violation. Bail bond agents already largely lacked the authority to get involved in immigration issues. But Sen. Yasmin Trudeau, D-Tacoma, said she introduced the bill because 'people can operate right on the boundaries.' The law, she said, will provide clarification about those boundaries and the penalties for crossing them. It would also prevent agents from sharing a defendant's immigration status with anyone outside their business. The bill would take effect on July 27. In addition to the laws the governor signed Monday, the Legislature approved a bill to allow immigrants to use paid sick time for immigration proceedings, which Ferguson signed in April, and a bill to have an expedited pardon process for those facing deportation, which is awaiting the governor's signature. Lawmakers also maintained funding in the budget they approved for a state program that provides health care coverage that mirrors Medicaid to a limited number of immigrants without legal status. Ferguson has still not signed off on the budget legislation.
Axios
01-04-2025
- Politics
- Axios
Washington state seeks oversight of Tacoma ICE center
Washington state lawmakers are seeking greater oversight of private detention facilities like the ICE center in Tacoma, as immigrant rights groups report a sharp rise in the number of people detained there. Why it matters: Advocates say conditions at the Northwest ICE Processing Center have worsened as more people — including at least one U.S. permanent resident — have been sent there as part of President Trump's immigration crackdown. The latest: House Bill 1232, which had a public hearing this week in the state Senate, would allow the state Department of Health to conduct inspections of privately run detention facilities in Washington state. That would include the Tacoma ICE detention center, which is run by The GEO Group, a for-profit company. Under the bill, the Health Department would set rules about access to phones, medical services, and hot and cold running water, along with standards for things like lighting and food safety. State inspectors would be allowed to enter the facilities at any time and fine companies up to $10,000 per violation. State of play: The measure has cleared the state House and awaits action in the Senate. By the numbers: An attorney with the Northwest Immigrant Rights Project estimated that between 1,400 and 1,500 people were detained at the Northwest ICE Processing Center as of Wednesday, nearing the center's capacity of 1,575 people, The News Tribune reported. "In less than two months, the population has doubled and conditions have worsened," Perla Vasquez, a member of the advocacy group La Resistencia, said during a Senate committee hearing March 24. Per data from the Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse (TRAC), as recently as March 17 there were 880 detainees at the Tacoma facility (which represents a more modest uptick from 693 in December). The other side: Neither ICE or The GEO Group responded to questions from Axios about the number of detainees at the Tacoma facility or the conditions inside. Yes, but: A spokesperson for The GEO Group wrote in an email to Axios that the company believes the proposal in Washington's Legislature is unconstitutional, as would be "any effort by a state to regulate a federally contracted facility." By the numbers: The state Health Department says it has received more than 1,500 complaints about the Northwest ICE Processing Center since June 2023. Nearly 100 complaints were about water quality or availability, and more than 400 were about medical issues, according to an email sent to state lawmakers and shared with Axios. Other complaints pertained to problems such as unsanitary living conditions, poor air quality, mold and contaminated food. Between the lines: Washington passed a law requiring state inspections of private detention facilities in 2023, but a federal judge struck down much of it last year, ruling that it "impermissibly discriminates against GEO" and its Tacoma facility. Zoom in: The new proposal includes a broader definition of a private detention center, so it would also apply to Martin Hall, a juvenile facility run by a not-for-profit company, lawmakers said.
Yahoo
18-02-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Push for inspections at Tacoma immigration detention center reemerges in WA Legislature
Mist shrouds the state Capitol dome in Olympia, Wash. on Jan. 27, 2025. (Bill Lucia/Washington State Standard) Following multiple lawsuits involving the Northwest ICE Processing Center in Tacoma, state lawmakers are pushing again for greater transparency at the for-profit immigrant detention center. House Bill 1232, sponsored by Rep. Lillian Ortiz-Self, D-Mukilteo, would expand the definition of private detention facilities to include those run by nonprofit organizations. In fighting the state's attempts at oversight in court, The GEO Group, which runs the Tacoma facility, claimed they were singled out by previous legislation. 'If they really had nothing to hide, they would have opened their doors,' Ortiz-Self said. The Northwest ICE Processing Center is the only privately run adult detention facility in the state. GEO operates the center under a contract with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement. The Martin Hall Juvenile Detention Facility, near Spokane, is not-for-profit and would be covered by this year's bill. Through this legislation, Ortiz-Self hopes to demonstrate the state is not targeting a single facility. 'It's really very simple, you do business in the state of Washington, you should uphold some basic human standards,' Ortiz-Self said. 'We would go after any other private detention facility,' she added, 'but we don't have any others.' The bill also includes some changes to the standards the state is seeking to enforce at the facilities, sets out new civil penalties for violations, and would make inspection findings available to the public. GEO did not return a request for comment. Debate over the legislation comes as President Donald Trump has pursued a set of hardline immigration policies since taking office last month. The Northwest ICE Processing Center is the largest immigration detention site in the region, with the capacity to hold about 1,575 people. For years, it has been the subject of complaints over human rights violations. The University of Washington Center for Human Rights has documented allegations of medical neglect, reports of sexual assaults, use of tear gas, lack of cleanliness, and unsafe food. People detained there have repeatedly gone on hunger strikes and there have also been reports of attempted suicides. In 2021, the Washington Legislature approved a law trying to force the detention center's closure, but it had to back down after the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled against a similar California law. Since then, a series of court battles have focused on a 2023 Washington state law — House Bill 1470 — intended to give state health and workplace agencies authority to conduct inspections at private detention centers. Workplace inspectors from the Department of Labor and Industries did gain access to inspect the Northwest ICE Processing Center last year, following a court fight. But GEO and the state continue to disagree over other aspects of the law, including whether Department of Health inspectors should have access to the facility. 'We want the Department of Health and Human Services to be able to go into that facility and make sure that human beings are okay,' Ortiz-Self said. Revisions to required facility standards in the bill are somewhat nuanced. For example, House Bill 1470 required solitary confinement to be prohibited, mental health evaluations, and new clothing upon arrival. House Bill 1232 would remove this and other language, but it adds new provisions, like procedures to reduce the spread of diseases and more detailed food service rules. Ortiz-Self said that the standards she's proposed align with those for psychiatric hospitals. The bill would also clear the way for the Department of Health to assess civil fines up to $1 million against facilities that don't address problems identified during inspections. The money collected from these penalties will go to the department to provide training or technical assistance to the facilities. To Ortiz-Self, this legislation is about preserving human rights. 'We don't hear of that number of hunger strikes in our prisons,' she said, noting the frequency of hunger strikes at the Tacoma center. 'We have a right to ask what is going on and when the answer is 'you can't come in,' it makes us really suspicious.' How much power the state has to regulate a facility involved in federal immigration enforcement has been central to the ongoing litigation. Clashes over this and related issues continued Friday in one of the lawsuits stemming from House Bill 1470, with the state and GEO arguing before the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals. Even before Trump took office, the U.S. Department of Justice sided with the company and against the state's law. Similarly, lawmakers opposed to the new bill argue the detention center is a federal facility and not a state issue. 'We would not have the health department go on to a military base to inspect the base, this is something we feel is similar,' said Jenny Graham, R-Spokane, in a recent committee hearing. If the bill doesn't pass this session, Ortiz-Self suggested she and other lawmakers would not back down from future attempts to regulate the facility. 'If GEO thinks we're gonna stop and sit back and say, 'Oh, well, we lost,' I hope, after the third time, they realize we are not,' she said.
