Federal Judge Orders Washington State Health Inspectors Into Tacoma GEO Group ICE Facility

U.S. District Judge Benjamin Settle ruled July 10, 2026 that GEO Group must allow Washington State Department of Health inspectors into the Northwest ICE Processing Center in Tacoma, one of the largest private ICE facilities in the country. The ruling takes effect in two weeks; GEO Group is expected to appeal. The facility has generated 3,500 complaints over three years covering medical neglect, unsanitary conditions, and documented staff assaults on detainees. The ruling reasserts state health-inspection authority over private federal contractors — a jurisdictional question GEO Group has fought aggressively, and one it conceded days earlier on a parallel Cal/OSHA inspection front in California.

This extends the state-health-authority-vs-federal-contractor pattern already documented in New Jersey’s Delaney Hall inspection-access lawsuit against GEO Group (2026-06-02–nj-sues-geo-group-delaney-hall-health-inspector-access), giving the timeline two separate states now winning court orders establishing that state health inspectors can enter privately-operated federal detention facilities.