140+ detainees end week-long hunger strike at Tacoma ICE facility

More than 140 people detained at the ICE facility in Tacoma have ended a nearly weeklong hunger strike over food and medical care.

The hunger strike occurred at the Northwest ICE Processing Center in Tacoma. This most recent hunger strike — the 20th hunger strike that transpired at that facility this year — was spurred by the detainees allegedly being served inedible food, having irregular meal schedules, and being neglected from medical services.

According to The Seattle Times, GEO Group, which owns and operates the Northwest ICE Processing Center, promised new food options and larger portions to end the strike.

At the start of the hunger strike, The Seattle Times reported those in custody suffered from being served food that contained “burned plastic, metal string, rope, splinters, hair, and worms” in addition to inadequate medical care. Additional complaints included unsafe drinking water, black mold, and improperly cleaned laundry.

The hunger strike caused two members of Congress to visit the detention center to see the conditions firsthand. The congresswomen arrived unannounced Saturday, at the same time a protest was happening outside the facility in solidarity with the detainees. The representatives shared that they were allowed to see the kitchen, but not the area where detainees receive medical care.

“They misled us about who was on a hunger strike and what the status of that was,” one representative, Maxine Dexter of Oregon, said, according to KIRO 7.

“It makes it very hard to parse what is actually happening in these facilities when we are hearing separate accounts,” the other representative, Emily Randall of Washington, said.

La Resistencia, a grassroots immigrant-rights organization based in Washington that originated in Tacoma, has been heavily involved in supporting the hunger strike.

“We have been an organization for over 12 years. We have supported, on average, a dozen hunger strikes a year,” Josefina Mora-Cheung, the director of organizing for La Resistencia, said. “This year, this is the 20th hunger strike we are supporting.”

In June, Washington Attorney General Nick Brown joined a coalition of 22 other attorneys general in urging the U.S. Department of Homeland Security and ICE to reverse a policy that ends investigations and public reporting of deaths that occur shortly after people are released from ICE custody. Brown argued the policy that stops investigating and reporting ICE facility-related deaths “reduces the federal government’s accountability for conditions in ICE and its contractors’ facilities and jeopardizes the safety of detainees.”

There are 1,458 people currently detained at the Northwest ICE Processing Center.

This is a developing story, check back for updates

Contributing: KIRO 7

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