States fight to inspect federal immigrant detention facilities

Democratic-led states including Washington, Massachusetts and Colorado are passing laws to inspect immigrant detention facilities run by private contractors like the GEO Group, citing complaints of rotten food, insufficient bathrooms and a confirmed tuberculosis case. The Trump administration argues the Supremacy Clause shields these federal facilities from state oversight entirely, even though they are operated by a for-profit company under contract.

Washington's health department says it has logged more than 3,500 complaints about one Tacoma facility and been denied entry ten times since 2023. GEO's CEO has floated a fix: have the federal government simply own the facilities outright, which he says would give the exemption stronger legal footing.

DHS maintains detainees get proper meals, clean water and medical care, and claims ICE facilities exceed the standards of prisons holding U.S. citizens. That claim arrives days after a separate federal watchdog report found detainees at a Florida facility held in small metal enclosures for up to two hours without clean water or showers.

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