by Luna Reyna, columnist 

As we’ve reported in the past, the Northwest ICE Processing Center (NWIPC) in Tacoma, Washington is run by GEO Group, the largest private prison company in the country. Accusations of human rights violations, followed by countless lawsuits, have remained constant since the facility was built over 20 years ago. Grassroots organizations like La Resistencia have been working for over five years to shut down the facility, and House Bill 1090 (HB 1090) may finally do just that. 

House leadership brought HB 1090, which would ban private for-profit detention facilities in the state, closer to becoming law with a majority vote in support of the bill on February 23. “Businesses should not be able to make profits on incarceration. Private, for-profit detention facilities place shareholder profits above all other priorities. These facilities are not accountable to the public. Government officials and advocates have sought information from private detention facilities, through the Freedom of Information Act, but have been turned down on the basis of trade secrets,” the House Bill Report reads. “The state has the authority and obligation to protect persons within its borders from human rights violations, even in the context of immigration enforcement. The government can address immigration enforcement without the use of private, for-profit detention facilities.”