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

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

Starting in spring of 2022 and through the summer, I worked on the Migrant Redress Initiative: Freedom and Dignity project with Alejandra Gonza, Executive Director of Global Rights Advocacy (GRA), in collaboration with La Resistencia. The Redress Initiative is a project that empowers immigrants to reach international justice by bridging the voices of the most

UWCHR reviews documentary evidence substantiating longstanding allegations of medical neglect at the Northwest Detention Center in Tacoma, WA.

Immigrants detained at the Northwest Detention Center in Tacoma, WA have consistently reported sanitation issues including spoiled food and dirty laundry, which raise grave health concerns in light of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Human rights concerns at the Northwest Detention Center in Tacoma, WA follow a national pattern of substandard conditions in immigration detention.

On May 1, 2018, Congresswoman Pramila Jayapal wrote a letter to Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen stating her support for the UWCHR’s Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) research: “As an organization established by the Washington State Legislature, CHR relies on data collection and research to achieve their mission… I support this educational pursuit as well as the need for research and data collected by CHR. I urge the timely release of the FOIA information to the extent that the law permits.”