How are chemical agents used at the immigration detention center on the Tacoma Tideflats?

Officials used chemical agents at the immigration detention center in Tacoma this month, where detainees are held pending the outcome of their immigration proceedings.

The Northwest ICE Processing Center, formerly the Northwest Detention Center, is a 1,575-bed facility on the Tacoma Tideflats. It’s a for-profit facility that is owned and operated by The GEO Group, which contracts with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

The Seattle Times first reported that GEO guards used chemical agents Feb. 1 following a conflict about conditions at the facility, including the food served to detainees.

A statement Attorney General Bob Ferguson sent to The News Tribune Feb. 6 said, in part: “We will be looking into the details of these very serious allegations.”

It’s not clear whether chemical agents had been used at the immigration detention center before this month, but federal detention standards outline a protocol for how they can be used in that setting, and how that use is supposed to be reported.

Asked to confirm that chemical agents were used and to speak with someone about what policies and standards govern their use at the facility, GEO emailed a statement to The News Tribune Feb. 6 that read in part: “an incident occurred at the Northwest ICE Processing Center involving a small group of high-security detainees that were behaving in a disruptive manner, barricading themselves inside of their housing unit, and blocking security cameras, which provide additional safety for other detainees and staff. Staff were able to diffuse the initial disruption, with more than half of the detainees complying.”

GEO’s statement went on to say: “the remaining detainees continued to be unresponsive to staff orders and, as a matter of protocol, this resulted in the use of chemical agents. We take the use of chemical agents with the utmost seriousness and our staff follow strict federal standards as it relates to their use. Following the incident, all affected detainees were seen by on-site medical staff and cleared with no injuries.”

Asked to confirm details such as what chemical agents were used, whether chemical agents have been used at the facility previously, and how many detainees were evaluated by medical staff, both GEO and ICE referred The News Tribune to one another.

ICE said in a statement sent to The News Tribune Feb. 6, in part: “During a routine inspection the morning of Feb. 1 in the housing unit where high security, including aggravated felons, detainees are held, contraband was discovered that posed a risk to the safety of noncitizens, staff, and facility. Upon discovery of the contraband razor blades, the noncitizens involved refused to follow orders and became non-compliant. After careful consideration, ERO (Enforcement and Removal Operations) authorized non-lethal use of force following applicable guidelines to ensure the safety of all people in the facility including noncitizens and staff. Once the incident was resolved, all detainees were evaluated by on-site medical staff and cleared with no injuries.”

The grassroots group La Resistencia, which advocates “for the closing of the facility and an end to all detentions and deportations,” alleged in a news release Feb. 3 that “tear gas” was used Feb. 1.

In a subsequent news release Feb. 6, the group said: “One of the units received an inspection earlier that day (Feb. 1) and people were being accused of having contraband - a comb with a razor blade attached to it to cut hair. Their property was being removed from the unit.”

Detainees asked another unit “to join in a protest against worsening conditions,” and after that announcement, the gas was used, La Resistencia’s Feb. 6 release said.

The group alleged the chemical agents “used against protesters spread far beyond their intended target,” reaching other parts of the facility. It also said that “ICE has promised to improve conditions” at the facility.

GEO and ICE both provided The News Tribune links to federal detention standards online, including about use of force.

“Staff are trained and required to use only a level of force that is necessary and reasonable to gain control of a detainee,” those standards say.

The federal standards list “oleoresin capsicum spray (pepper spray)” and “ICE authorized chemical and impact munitions” among the agency’s “authorized intermediate force devices.”

The standards list “mace, CN, tear gas, or other chemical agents, except OC spray” among the “unauthorized force devices.”

The facility administrator can “authorize the use of intermediate force weapons” if someone is armed or barricaded, among other circumstances, according to the standards, but medical staff is supposed to be consulted “as practicable, before using pepper spray or other intermediate force weapons unless escalating tension makes such action unavoidable.”

The standards also specify that: “Training in the use of chemical agents also shall include treatment of individuals exposed to them.”

Additionally, they outline how use of force is supposed to be documented, stating: “Staff shall prepare detailed documentation of all incidents involving use of force, including chemical agents, or intermediate force weapons.”

Following use of force, the standards say that: “each staff member shall complete a memorandum” that goes to the administrator of the facility, along with any medical reports.

The standards also outline video recording procedures.

“Staff shall immediately obtain an audiovisual camera to record any calculated use of force incident, unless such a delay in bringing the situation under control would constitute a serious hazard to the detainee, staff, or others, or would result in a major disturbance or serious property damage.”

An “after-action review team” is supposed to see that recording to help determine if the use of force was appropriate.

In the days following use of force: “The after-action review team shall gather relevant information, determine whether policy and procedures were followed, make recommendations for improvement, if any, and complete an after-action report to record the nature of its review and findings,” the standards say.

The News Tribune asked spokespersons for ICE and GEO to share any of that documentation. They have not. The News Tribune also submitted a Freedom of Information Act request for “any video or audio recordings, written reports, and other communications, including emails and text messages, regarding non-lethal use of force at the Northwest ICE Processing Center Feb. 1, 2023,” which is pending.

The federal detention standards outline who decides whether to release such video to journalists.

“Release of use-of-force audiovisual recordings to the news media may occur only if authorized by the Director of Enforcement and Removal Operations, in accordance with ICE/ERO procedures and rules of accountability,” the standards state.

How other facilities use chemical agents

The News Tribune also asked the state Department of Corrections and the Pierce County Jail about their policies.

Department of Corrections spokesperson Chris Wright said via email: “I am told that we don’t disclose the policies for the use of tear gas for security reasons. We don’t have statistics on the use of tear gas, but it’s very rare. It’s been several years since its last use.”

Pierce County sheriff’s spokesperson Sgt. Darren Moss said via email: “We don’t use CN or CS gas or ‘tear gas’ in the jail. We do have OC spray and can deploy it in the small canisters we carry on our belt, in a larger canister with a handle, in a vapor or foam from a fire extinguisher sized can or through a grenade type format.”

Moss wrote that: “It is not very often that we use the ‘grenade’ deployment. The Captain had never seen it used. But you would have to make a formal request through public disclosure to get the actual numbers.”

He also directed The News Tribune to the agency’s policy manual online, which addresses the use of chemical agents by the sheriff’s department in the field and at the jail.

The manual says: “Only the Shift Sergeant, Incident Commander or Special Weapon and Tactics (SWAT) Unit Commander may authorize the delivery and use of chemical agents, evaluating all conditions known at the time and determining that such force reasonably appears justified and necessary to result in the safe control of the suspect(s).”

In addition to oleoresin capsicum sprays, the manual’s section on “chemical agent guidelines” addresses “pepperball projectile systems.”

That system launches “plastic spheres that are filled with a derivative of OC powder,” the manual explained.

It says only the Corrections bureau (the jail) is “authorized to carry and use” that particular projectile system, and that each time it’s directed at a suspect has to be documented, “whether or not the launcher was used.”

The manual also talks about treatment and access to fresh water and fresh air to decontaminate after someone is exposed to a chemical agent.

“Persons exhibiting or complaining of severe or adverse effects from a chemical agent exposure, which may be inconsistent with the typical chemical agent exposure symptoms, shall be afforded medical examination by qualified medical personnel,” the manual says.

Conditions at the immigration detention center

La Resistencia’s news release Feb. 6 said: “Following increased protests inside the facility, ICE has promised to improve conditions, and hunger strikers are ceasing their action.”

La Resistencia said more than 85 detainees had been part of a hunger strike Feb. 1, and that their demands include improvements to food service and laundry service at the facility, increased access to the facility’s barbershop, a lower price and better service for telecommunications, changes to the grievance process in place, an end to “unnecessary detention,” and clean air, among other things.

They said one person was still refusing food. GEO’s statement Feb. 6 said no one was on hunger strike.

“We strongly reject these allegations, which are clearly part of a politically motivated and choreographed effort to abolish ICE,” GEO’s statement said. “There is currently no hunger strike at the Northwest ICE Processing Center and residents are provided three meals daily based on nutritional menus approved by a registered dietitian free of charge, in accordance with the federal government’s Performance-Based National Detention Standards.”

Detainees plan to resume a hunger strike if conditions don’t improve, La Resistencia’s release said.

“These latest reports, if true, are alarming,” Attorney General Ferguson said in his statement. “Unfortunately, they are consistent with the concerns my office has long had regarding the unlawful and unsafe conditions at the Northwest ICE Processing Center. ... In January 2022, I sent a letter to the U.S. Department of Homeland Security’s Inspector General asking that office to immediately investigate GEO’s treatment of individuals detained in the Tacoma facility. To date, the Biden Administration has unfortunately not responded to my request. The Biden Administration needs to do its job and ensure the health and safety of federal detainees. We will be looking into the details of these very serious allegations.”

Ferguson wrote in the letter to the inspector general last year that GEO had suspended the work program for detainees at the facility, after the state Attorney General’s Office sued the company, arguing that paying detainees $1 per day violated Washington’s minimum wage law.

“Now, the absence of the detainee labor force and GEO’s failure to replace the bulk of their labor has resulted in unsanitary living conditions,” the 2022 letter said. “GEO’s actions have and continue to put all detainees’ health, safety, and welfare at risk. These issues implicate both GEO’s operation of the facility as well as ICE’s failure to ensure adequate oversight and compliance with detention standards.”

ICE said in its statement following the Feb. 1 conflict that: “Enforcement and Removal Operations (ERO) is committed to ensuring that all those in its custody reside in safe, secure, and humane environments under appropriate conditions of confinement, and like all ICE detention facilities, the Northwest ICE Processing Center (NWIPC) adheres to ICE detention standards to meet these needs.”