Human rights group raises alarm about use of force, chemical weapons at Tacoma ICE center

In a new report, the University of Washington’s Center for Human Rights has raised concerns about the use of force at the Northwest ICE Processing Center in Tacoma and how those incidents are being reported.

Researchers with the Center for Human Rights say they've leaned on Freedom of Information Act requests to gather information about use of force at the ICE processing center, which detains people who are undocumented as they await rulings related to their immigration status. In some cases, people may be detained for years at a time.

The data provided by ICE has been incomplete, said Angelina Godoy, director of the Center for Human Rights. Even when looking at the partial data, there are a lot of inconsistencies, she added.

“If ICE’s own data is so poor and internally inconsistent, then we're going to have real problems, for example, when we go to implement HB 1470, which mandates that the Department of Health do inspections and improve conditions at the facility,” she said.