A Bill in Washington to shutdown Privately Run Immigration Jails

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The Washington administration has approved a bill designed at shutting down one of the country’s largest for-profit, privately run immigration jails. On Tuesday, a majority of Democrats presented the bill and State Senate voted 28-21 in favor of a measure. The move would ban for-profit detention centers in the state. It is the only facility that meets the definition and the Northwest detention center in Tacoma is a 1,575-bed immigration jail operated by the GEO Group under a contract with the ICE (US Immigration and Customs Enforcement). The bill already passed the House with bipartisan support and now heads to Governor Jay Inslee who opposes for-profit detention centers. Point to be noted that it was sponsored by Democratic Lillian Ortiz-Self of Mukilteo. Moreover, supporters argued that the severe drop in immigration detention during the pandemic proved it isn’t essential to keep so many immigrants locked up.

They also criticized minimum-bed quotas that are written into contracts with private detention facilities. Senator Patty Kuderer said, “When you have a motive for profits, you have a motive to destroy people’s lives”. The Northwest detention center currently houses less than 200 detainees due to pandemic-related precautions. Legal director at the Northwest Immigrant Rights Project, Matt Adams said, “Why were we locking up 1,500 people in Tacoma a year and a half ago? It’s because it’s a business. Having private facilities creates the perverse incentive to require that more people be detained, irrespective of whether they pose a flight risk or a danger to the community”. It is noteworthy that the bill would allow GEO to continue operating the jail until its contract with ICE expires in 2025. GEO sued over a similar 2019 measure in California, however, a federal judge there largely sided with the state.

The company also said that it provides for the safety of detainees there in accordance with federal standards, in spite of allegations of substandard conditions. It is important that the federal government provides health care at the facility. A trade association of GEO, the Day 1 Alliance, and other private detention companies suggested the lawmakers were motivated by faux outrage. The facility has operated in Tacoma for more than 20 years under Democratic and Republican Presidential Administrations and offering the same high-quality services to the federal government. The trade association also said the bill would likely force detainees to be transferred out of state and isolating them from family, friends, and legal services. They said, “This bill is nothing more than political theater, at the expense of the very individuals housed at the facility whose interests elected officials to claim to have in mind”.