Private prison management company GEO Group is suing Washington state over a new law that mandates the closure of an immigrant detention center that operates in Tacoma and that, according to the company, would unconstitutionally subvert federal authority.
The law, enacted by the state legislature in March, interferes with a contract between GEO and the Immigration and Customs Enforcement Service (ICE), according to the lawsuit filed by the group in court last month. United States district of Western Washington, The Seattle Times reported.
According to the document, the law also tries to undermine federal control mechanisms.
This transparent attempt by the state to curb the federal government’s arrest efforts within Washington’s borders is a direct attack on the supremacy of federal law and cannot be tolerated, “the lawsuit states.
GEO is seeking a preliminary suspension and alleges that state law would force the center to close in September, much earlier than expected.
The fight over ICE’s Northwest Processing Center, which has 1,575 beds and is one of the largest privately run immigration prisons in the country, follows years of criticism from activists and human rights defenders who claim that people there The detainees do not receive adequate food or medical care and spend, on average, much longer in isolation than in other similar centers.
State Attorney General Bob Ferguson also sued GEO for the alleged violation of minimum wage laws by paying detainees $ 1 a day to work there. That trial is scheduled to begin on June 1.
The group’s lawyers did not respond to phone calls from the newspaper seeking comment.
In a statement, Ferguson said he supports the new law and will defend it.
The rule, which bans most private detention facilities but in practice affects only Tacoma’s, allows existing contracts to be honored.
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