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Center for Human Rights, Jackson School of International Studies, University of Washington

UWCHR Shares Latest NWDC Conditions Report Findings with Tacoma Stakeholders

Screenshot of a zoom meeting with participants shown in different squares.
Presenting findings from the "TPD Doesn't Respond Here" report.

May 20, 2025

Since 2017, as part of a longstanding effort to examine the human rights implications of federal immigration enforcement, the Center for Human Rights has sought to obtain information about conditions of immigrant detention in Washington state.  Our findings are published in an ongoing series of reports, Conditions at the Northwest Detention Center, with the newest addition in the series, “TPD Doesn’t Respond Here,” covering patterns of neglect in the Tacoma Police Department’s response to reported crimes at the Northwest Detention Center. 

Following the release of the latest report, UWCHR Director Prof. Angelina Snodgrass Godoy presented the findings to the Tacoma Commission on Immigrant and Refugee Affairs on April 28, and to the Tacoma Community’s Police Advisory Committee (CPAC) on May 12, and others. At CPAC’s invitation, Tacoma Mayor Victoria Woodards, Acting Tacoma Police Chief Patti Jackson, and Deputy Chief Frank Krause participated. Video of the CPAC meeting including UWCHR’s presentation can be found here.

Report findings included:

  • TPD was less likely to make contact with victims of alleged assaults and sexual assaults when victims were detained people compared to when victims were facility staff, despite detained people making up the overwhelming majority of victims of reported crimes at the NWDC.
  • ICE or GEO staff actively discouraged TPD from carrying out investigations of alleged crimes at the facility, disparaging the credibility of victims or reporting that the facility was investigating reports itself, including in cases where facility staff were the alleged perpetrators of abuses and where those agencies might therefore have motivation to actively suppress reporting of those incidents.
  • TPD officers erroneously claimed they did not have jurisdiction to investigate crimes reported at the facility.

By presenting findings to stakeholders in Tacoma we hope to ensure that this systematic disregard of immigrant rights ends, such that all Washingtonians can enjoy equal protection of the laws. Read the full report here.