If President-elect Donald Trump follows through on his promise to deport millions of undocumented immigrants, the privately-run detention center in Tacoma could play an important role in the feds’ Northwest operations.
The Northwest Immigration Processing Center is among the largest detention centers in the United States with 1,575 beds, and it’s the only detention facility Immigration and Customs Enforcement has in the Pacific Northwest.
Trump’s promise to carry out “the largest deportation program of criminals in the history of America” is filled with questions. Where will immigrants be held while their cases process through the court system? What would happen to immigrants whose native countries don’t accept deportation flights? How will Trump pay for the plan, which the American Immigration Council estimates could cost $88 billion per year.
The capacity of the NWIPC is far surpassed by the number of people ICE is keeping tabs on in the Seattle area of responsibility, which includes Alaska, Washington, Oregon and parts of Idaho. At the beginning of November, there were 10,214 people on alternatives to detention, such as SmartLink, a phone app that tracks the whereabouts of 86 percent of those people, and ankle and wrist monitors.
Those means of digital monitoring have expanded dramatically in the last six or eight years, according to Tim Warden-Hertz, directing attorney for the Tacoma office of the Northwest Immigrant Rights Project.
“That level of surveillance means that trying to arrest a lot of people more quickly, that is certainly easier, right?” Warden-Hertz said. “Because you have close tabs on people.”
The overall population of undocumented immigrants in Washington is much larger. According to Pew Research, as many as 325,000 lived here in 2022.
ICE is also looking at the possibility of expanding its capacity to house undocumented immigrants in custody by adding bedspace to existing ones or obtaining new facilities, including in the Pacific Northwest. In August, the federal agency issued a request for information to identify available detention facilities for single adults in Washington and Oregon, Northern California, Arizona and New Mexico.
Documents show ICE is looking for facilities with 850 to 950 beds and which are publicly or privately owned. Facilities should also be within a two-hour drive of ICE field offices or sub-offices, which are located in Tukwila and Tacoma.
ICE notes that the request for information is solely for planning purposes, and responses can’t be accepted by the government to form a binding contract. News outlets such as CalMatters and the Associated Press have reported that the American Civil Liberties Union is suing to learn more about the agency’s expansion plans.
The Northwest ICE Processing Center, formerly known as the Northwest Detention Center, is a privately owned and operated immigration detention center on the Tacoma Tideflats. It opened in 2004 with a 500-bed capacity. It has since expanded capacity three times into a facility with 1,575 beds, making it one of the largest immigration detention centers in the U.S. Aerial photo taken in Spring of 2012. DEAN J. KOEPFLER/THE NEWS TRIBUNE FILE
If ICE finds and moves forward with obtaining new facilities in Washington, it’s unclear how long it would take to get them operational.
Trump confirmed last month on his social media platform, Truth Social, that reports showing he was prepared to declare a national emergency and use military assets for mass deportations were true. The Wall Street Journal has reported that aides to Trump believe that a national emergency declaration would allow the administration to use military assets to detain and remove migrants, such as bases. Joint Base Lewis-McChord is just south of Tacoma, and it’s the largest military base in the western United States.
In 2018, Trump’s administration started his “zero tolerance” immigration enforcement policy which separated children from their parents at the southern border of the U.S. Warden-Hertz said that at the time, when there wasn’t space to house parents, federal jails and prisons were used, including FCI Sheridan, southwest of Portland, and FDC SeaTac. Warden-Hertz said use of the facilities led to problematic results in terms of due process, access to legal representation and visitation.
“I think those were terrible experiences for people who were detained there,” Warden-Hertz said.
ICE would not answer questions from The News Tribune about how the use of the detention center in Tacoma might be ramped up under Trump or whether other federal facilities could be used and directed questions about future policies to the president-elect’s transition team.
“Enforcement Removal Operations Seattle conducts removals of individuals without a lawful basis to remain in the U.S. who are ordered removed by immigration judges with the Justice Department’s Executive Office for Immigration Review,” spokesperson David Yost said.
“Individuals detained at the Northwest ICE Processing Center may be subject to mandatory detention or may be a risk to national security, threaten public safety, and/or pose a risk of flight.”
In response to questions, Trump’s transition team sent an emailed statement from his appointed White House press secretary, Karoline Leavitt.
“President Trump will enlist every federal power and coordinate with state authorities to institute the largest deportation operation of illegal criminals, drug dealers, and human traffickers in American history while simultaneously lowering costs for families,” Leavitt said. “The American people re-elected President Trump by a resounding margin giving him a mandate to implement the promises he made on the campaign trail, like deporting migrant criminals and restoring our economic greatness. He will deliver.”
People held at the detention center in Tacoma are suspected of being in the country illegally or are awaiting deportation. The population often is largely made up of people transferred there from other parts of the country. Earlier this year, the American Civil Liberties Union of Washington said many were asylum seekers brought north after being apprehended at the southern border. Others are picked up on warrants or are brought to the detention center after release from the Department of Corrections.
It’s hard to say what mass deportations might look like, but Tom Homan, Trump’s appointed “border czar,” has said he wants to prioritize deporting noncitizens with criminal histories.
In the second Trump administration, Warden-Hertz said he expects more Washingtonians to be detained at the NWIPC. Although many people were held there under the administration of President Joe Biden, he said there was increased detention under Trump during his first term.
Available ICE data on detention statistics shows that in fiscal year 2019, the average daily population of the NWIPC in Tacoma was 1,342. That number fell in 2020 during the COVID-19 pandemic to 739, and in fiscal year 2021, when Biden took office, it dropped sharply to 362. The average daily population has climbed since then. The most recent data, as of Oct. 28, shows the average daily population was 661.
“Unfortunately, there’s room for many more people to be locked up in the detention center,” Warden-Hertz said.
The Northwest ICE Processing Center, a privately-run jail for immigrants facing possible deportation, has been operating on Tacoma’s Tideflats for the last 20 years. It is shown on Thursday, April 11, 2024. Tony Overman/toverman@theolympian.com
When it comes to actually deporting people who are detained, the attorney said there are some limits on what a new administration could accomplish. Although undocumented immigrants are not guaranteed access to an attorney, they do have due-process rights, and Warden-Hertz said the immigration court system moves very slowly.
There are more than 3.7 million cases in the immigration court backlog, according to Syracuse University’s Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse, and out of that total, more than 1.6 million immigrants are waiting for asylum hearings.
Warden-Hertz said people are getting their final hearings set for around four years from now.
“There’s not sort of a move-people-quickly-to-deport-them kind of space in the immigration court system,” he said.
Washington is often labeled as a sanctuary state, and Warden-Hertz said he feels fortunate that the state’s elected leaders are committed to standing up for immigrants, but he also said he thinks the label over-promises on what protections exist.
Both Gov.-elect Bob Ferguson and Attorney General-elect Nick Brown have promised to defend the rights of Washingtonians if Trump oversteps. Ferguson recently announced the launch of a transition team subcommittee meant to protect residents from Project 2025, a federal policy agenda that includes plans for mass deportations.
But neither of the leaders can stop ICE from operating in Washington, Warden-Hertz said.
For now, Warden-Hertz and others who work with immigrant communities are waiting to see what actually comes to pass after Trump is sworn in on Jan. 20. He said the Northwest Immigrant Rights Project has been able to expand its capacity to offer free legal aid, but it’s far from meeting the need.
The Washington Immigration Solidarity Network, a grassroots coalition of immigrant and refugee rights organizations, is also looking to Ferguson and Brown to prioritize protecting their rights. In a Nov. 26 statement, the organization urged them to proactively challenge the Trump administration’s “dehumanizing rhetoric and xenophobic policies.”
“We look forward to working together to ensure that our state remains a safe haven for all and to fight for justice and dignity for every individual, regardless of immigration status,” the statement read.