The Northwest ICE Processing Center (NWIPC) in Tacoma, Washington, owned by private prison giant The GEO Group, Inc., is the sole detention facility in the state of Washington for federal Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). In 2023, state lawmakers targeted it with House Bill 1470, imposing numerous requirements on private detention facilities in the state. GEO Group sued in federal court for the Western District of Washington and moved to preliminarily enjoin enforcement of HB 1470, arguing that its provisions violate the Supremacy Clause and Contract Clause of the U.S. Constitution. In a series of March 2024 orders, the Court agreed and enjoined enforcement of most of the law.

The doctrine of intergovernmental immunity derives from the Supremacy Clause, freeing federal government activity from regulation by states. Private entities that deal with the federal government may also assert immunity under this doctrine, and they may sue to block discrimination when state law treats private entities worse than others are treated.

GEO Group asserted that HB 1470 violated this doctrine because, by its plain terms, it applied only to NWIPC, regulating it in ways that no other facility in the state is regulated. The Court agreed that although the statute defines “private detention facility” broadly, its history and text make clear that it applies only to NWIPC. Thus the statute violated the intergovernmental immunity doctrine by strictly regulating facility operations in ways that no other similar state or local facility is regulated.

First, HB 1470—codified as RCW 70.395—requires the state Department of Health (DOH) to adopt various rules governing use of personal belongings, cleaning and sanitizing living areas, providing laundry facilities and services, as well as basic personal hygiene items and dietary needs; the law also demanded sufficient indoor air quality, heating and air conditioning equipment that can be adjusted by room or area, plus a program to prevent transmission of infections and communicable diseases. DOH and the state Department of Labor and Industries (L&I) were also required to conduct routine, unannounced inspections of private detention facilities, focused on maintaining compliance with these standards.

Moreover, the law created a cause of action for detainees subjected to violations of these rules and standards, allowing recovery of $1,000 in damages for negligent breach and $10,000 if intentional or reckless, plus reasonable attorney fees and costs and other appropriate relief, including injunctive relief. DOH was also authorized to impose civil penalties for noncompliance on the operator of a private detention facility, up to $1,000 per day.

The Court enjoined enforcement of these provisions, finding they are not imposed on any other type of detention facility in the state. In doing so, it rejected the state’s argument that the standards are similar to those that residential treatment facilities must comply with “because residential treatment facilities are not similarly situated to immigration detention facilities.” Rather, the Court said, “immigration detention facilities are similarly situated to state and local detention facilities, such as prisons and jails.” Because the standards set forth in HB 1470 are “stricter than the standards imposed on [the state Department of Corrections],” the Court ruled that the statute “discriminates against GEO as the operator of the NWIPC in violation of the intergovernmental immunity doctrine.”

The Court did not enjoin a section of the law prohibiting solitary confinement and setting standards for medical and mental health care, visitation, clothing and telecommunication access, as well as response to sexual violence and harassment grievances; that section applies only to facilities operated under contracts executed beginning in 2023, and GEO Group’s contract at NWIPC was executed in January 2021.

Accordingly, GEO Group’s motion for a preliminary injunction was granted on March 8, 2024, and Washington was enjoined from enforcing those provisions of HB 1470 found to violate the Supremacy Clause. A motion for reconsideration was denied on April 15, 2024, when the Court clarified that any cause of action provided under the law was invalid. See: GEO Grp., Inc. v. Inslee, 2024 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 41293 (W.D. Wash.); and 2024 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 68452 (W.D. Wash.).

This is the second time that Washington has attempted a ban on private detention in the state which applies to federal contracts, too; a 2021 state measure was abandoned when the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit struck down a similar California law for violating the Supremacy Clause, as PLN reported. [See: PLN, Apr. 2022, p.50.] Meanwhile detainees continue to report abuse at the GEO Group lockup, like those detailed by the University of Washington Human Rights Center (UWHRC). See: Human Rights Conditions at the Northwest Detention Center, UWHRC (Mar. 2020).  

Additional source: Tacoma News Tribune

Subscribe today

Already a subscriber? Login