More than 140 detainees at the Northwest ICE Processing Center in Tacoma have ended a hunger strike that lasted nearly a week. They were protesting inedible and untimely meals, portions that were too small, a lack of hygiene supplies and inadequate medical care. Participants from two housing units went without food for five and six days.
After negotiations, detainees were promised a new menu, larger portions and improved food quality. However, according to activists with La Resistencia, the promised changes had still not been implemented by Thursday. Hunger-strike participants remain cautiously optimistic but doubt that the center’s operator, the private company GEO Group, will fulfill its commitments.
La Resistencia supports detainees and their families, helps document complaints, distributes information about rights, connects people with attorneys and works to draw public attention to detention conditions. In addition to hunger strikes, people held at the center can file formal complaints with ICE and the facility operator, seek medical and legal assistance, report violations to inspectors and human-rights organizations, and participate in court and administrative proceedings. However, public and collective actions may lead to pressure or disciplinary consequences, and available remedies depend on a person’s status and the facility’s internal rules.
The center, located about a mile from downtown Tacoma, holds more than 1,500 people, most of whom remain there for an indefinite period. This is the facility’s 20th hunger strike since the beginning of the year. Detainees have also reported inadequate medical care, mold in the showers, unsafe drinking water, dirty and damp laundry returned from washing, and foreign objects in their food — ranging from hair and worms to metal wire and fragments of plastic.
During the protest, Reps. Maxine Dexter and Emily Randall visited the center without prior notice. They were allowed to inspect the housing units and kitchen but not the medical wing, and they were not permitted to meet with medical staff.
The situation is unfolding amid a legal dispute between state authorities and GEO Group. Private ICE detention centers operate under federal contracts and are primarily governed by federal immigration law and ICE standards. However, they are also subject to state and local health, building, fire and labor regulations. After a law establishing health standards was passed in 2023, the company has refused to allow inspectors to conduct inspections at the center.
Local inspectors may conduct inspections within the scope of their legal authority, document violations, issue orders and impose penalties provided by law. However, they do not make immigration decisions, cannot independently release detainees and generally have no authority to exercise full oversight of federal detention procedures or alter GEO Group’s contract terms. Activists say the hunger strike demonstrates that existing oversight and accountability mechanisms are insufficient.
Based on: Hunger strike over ‘unacceptable’ food ends at Tacoma ICE detention center