cross-posted from: https://infosec.pub/post/49264330
A federal judge on Thursday ordered private prison company GEO Group to admit Washington Department of Health inspectors to the Tacoma detention center it operates under contract with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
Senior U.S. District Judge Benjamin Settle granted Washington’s request for a preliminary injunction barring GEO Group from refusing state inspectors access to the Northwest ICE Processing Center, where ICE detains individuals awaiting immigration proceedings.
The judge, a George W. Bush appointee, stayed his order for two weeks to give GEO Group an opportunity to appeal. The injunction does not apply to ICE-controlled administrative and medical areas of the facility.
Settle rejected GEO’s argument that ICE is a necessary and indispensable party to the case, which GEO filed three years ago in response to a state law requiring basic health and safety standards at private detention facilities and authorizing state health inspectors to inspect them.
“If ICE were the real party in interest, it would have been a plaintiff, and it has had every opportunity to appear and defend the counterclaim,” Settle wrote, referring to Washington’s counterclaim seeking an injunction requiring GEO to allow inspectors into the Tacoma facility.
“GEO does not assert, or cite any authority for the proposition that, a federal contractor enjoys immunity from state law to the same extent that the federal government does,” the judge wrote. “GEO cannot, because a federal contractor does not.”
…
The Tacoma processing center in one of the largest ICE detention facilities in the country. Most people held there are civil immigration detainees awaiting administrative proceedings. Some lack legal status in the United States, while others are lawful permanent residents, including some with work authorization.
I’m betting that they will just ignore the ruling.