23-04-2025
Here's what Tacoma's U.S. Rep. Emily Randall saw in tour of ICE detention center
On a Tuesday morning tour of the privately-run immigration detention center in Tacoma, Democratic U.S. Rep. Emily Randall intended to see for herself what conditions are like for people held there.
Randall, a Democrat who represents Washington's 6th Congressional District, spoke to reporters outside the Northwest ICE Processing Center after her tour. She pointed out issues with under-staffing, limits to outdoor recreation for detainees and the renewed stoppage of funding for a legal-aid information program for people facing deportation.
Her visit came in response to what she called a concerning increase in Immigration and Customs Enforcement targeting labor leaders in immigration raids, such as last month's arrest of 25-year-old Alfredo 'Lelo' Juarez Zeferino, a farming labor activist in Whatcom County. Randall was also concerned about the facility lacking compliance with medical and sanitary condition requirements.
'I saw it really important for Congress, particularly Congressional Democrats because no one else is doing it, to step up and use our oversight authority,' Randall said. 'I wanted to come firsthand and check some of the rumors that we've been hearing, understand what's happening here within these walls.'
Randall is a member of the U.S. House Oversight Committee, and she said she didn't think this would be her last visit. The congresswoman's tour did not include meetings with detainees. She spoke with staff from ICE and the GEO Group, the federal contractor that runs the facility, as well as a healthcare official.
There were talks about returning to visit individuals detained there, she said, noting that she's heard from colleagues in Congress who have constituents from places such as Los Angeles who are detained in Tacoma.
More than 1,300 people were detained at the NWIPC on Tuesday, Randall said, just a couple hundred short of its capacity. About 700 people were detained there in November, according to ICE statistics, and Randall said she would expect that surge to require a 'pretty intensive' staff increase.
Randall said what was most heartening to her was that healthcare positions at the detention center are almost entirely filled after a 30-percent vacancy. She said there are gaps in the rest of the staff, with openings for 40-plus jobs.
'While they maintain that they're able to do the work, I worry about people's timely access to some of the services that are available,' Randall said.
Prior to Randall's tour, the congresswoman met with immigrant-rights organizations including the Northwest Immigrant Rights Project, Firelands Workers United and Mi Centro.
Mi Centro, a decades-old nonprofit in Tacoma, offers services to the Latino community such as English-language classes and domestic-violence resources while also doing advocacy work on immigration rights.
Maria Chavez, executive assistant at Mi Centro, told The News Tribune she was grateful Randall took time to listen to the concerns Mi Centro has been hearing, particularly what she said were inhumane conditions at the detention center.
'We believe that she can make a difference, even though it will be a tough, tough run,' Chavez said.
Top of mind for Chavez was state-level oversight of the NWIPC. She said she hoped for the passage of House Bill 1232, which is the state Legislature's latest attempt at increasing oversight of privately-run detention facilities. The bill is still moving through the statehouse before the legislative session ends Sunday.
'Many people that are detained do not have criminal records, and yet they are being mistreated,' Chavez said.
Access to outdoor recreation has been curtailed in recent weeks because of an escape last month from a recreation yard behind the building. According to court records filed in the related criminal case, a 24-year-old man from Venezuela scaled a perimeter fence to escape on foot.
Randall said she saw the fence being repaired during her tour.
Typically, according to Randall, everyone in the facility is rotated through two yards, but not everyone can get access every day now that they're down to one. Randall said that means some people have gone three weeks without regular access to outdoor recreation.
Federal funding for legal-aid information programs has recently been stopped at the NWIPC, including for the Legal Orientation Program, which educates noncitizens in deportation cases about their rights in the immigration process.
The programs had restarted after being halted days after President Donald Trump was sworn into office, but funding was cut off again April 16 by the U.S. Justice Department.
The Northwest Immigrant Rights Project previously had staff go to the facility three to five times a week to give 'Know Your Rights' presentations to people who are detained and don't have an attorney. Randall said the organization can still do them if they cover their own costs and ask for permission to enter the facility to do the presentations, but there's no longer a contract funding the work.
Twelve nonprofit organizations that operate the programs have joined a lawsuit suing the U.S. government to restart funding, but a motion for a temporary restraining order was denied April 15 by U.S. District Court Judge Randolph Moss in Washington, D.C.
In a sworn declaration, Vanessa Gutierrez, a deputy director of the Northwest Immigrant Rights Project, said more than 200 people were in need of intakes due to the 'dramatic' increase in the number of people detained at the facility.
Gutierrez said the loss of funding means the organization can't continue the Know Your Rights presentations at the same scale, and many unrepresented people will go into immigration court with little to no knowledge of what to expect or what forms of relief they might be eligible for.
'This will certainly only further delay the courts ability to adjudicate cases and protect individuals' due process rights,' Gutierrez said in the declaration.
