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

This report is part of a series regarding Human Rights Conditions at the Northwest Detention Center in Tacoma, Washington, based on ongoing research efforts and released to highlight initial findings in the urgent context of the COVID-19 pandemic. Contents: • Introduction • Background, Methodology, and Human Rights Standards • Sanitation of Food and Laundry •

Since the Trump administration’s recent pivot to using military planes in addition to private charter flights to conduct deportation flights, UWCHR researchers have found that between the start of the flights on January 24, 2025, to February 13, 2025, most military deportation flights were by planes stationed at Joint Base Lewis-McChord (JBLM) in WA state.

Center’s seventh FOIA lawsuit would compel proactive release of three key types of documents on a quarterly basis On November 13, 2024, the University of Washington Center for Human Rights (UWCHR) filed a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) lawsuit against the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), seeking to require

In 2024 we continued to monitor conditions at the Northwest Detention Center (NWDC) in Tacoma, documenting emergent crises affecting people detained at the NWDC, including the death of Charles Leo Daniel and a series of suicide attempts at the facility during the first quarter of the year. In both cases, these crises were first reported

In August 2024, we published “Paths to Compliance: The Effort to Protect Immigrant Rights in Washington State,” an update from our Immigrant Rights Observatory project monitoring implementation of pro-immigrant legislation in Washington State, finding both signs of progress and ongoing concerns. With provisions restricting many forms of collaboration between local and state agencies and federal

  This year we embarked on a new collaboration between immigrant rights group La Resistencia, UWCHR, and Hinton Publishing to showcase the stories of people in deportation proceedings in Washington State. A team of 17 students worked to gather the stories of people facing deportation through Boeing Field (and in some cases, folks already deported).

This report is part of the University of Washington Center for Human Rights’ Immigrant Rights Observatory project, using public records research and community partnerships to monitor implementation of and compliance with state laws protecting immigrant rights. For more on the project and other publications, visit the project page here. Introduction As the United States enters

In 2019, the Washington state legislature passed a landmark “sanctuary” law aimed at safeguarding immigrant rights, the Keep Washington Working Act (KWW).[1] In doing so, it prohibits many once-routine practices that, in the past, funneled many Washington state residents into contact with federal immigration enforcement. While many migrant justice organizations worked hard to secure the

911 Call Logs Reveal Increase in Reports of Suicide Attempts at Northwest Detention Center in Tacoma, WA For Immediate Release:  SEATTLE, WA, April 9, 2024 — New 911 call logs obtained by the University of Washington Center for Human Rights (UWCHR) reveal at least 6 suicide attempts by people in ICE custody at the Northwest