The private company in charge of running a federal immigration detention center based in Tacoma is suing the city, claiming that an ordinance, passed in February to prevent them from expanding the facility, was done so in defiance towards the federal government rather than land use issues, as claimed at the time.
The GEO Group, based in Florida, sued Tacoma last Thursday in federal court, attempting to have ordinance rendered invalid, according to the News Tribune. The lawsuit stated that the land-use regulatory authority of the city does not give them the right to disrupt critical federal functions because city staff and officials do not agree with the way immigration policies are currently implemented by the federal government.
The company is on a contract with Immigration and Customs Enforcement to run Tacoma’s Northwest Detention Center, which opened with 500 beds in 2004 and has since expanded to 1575 beds. According to Steve Victor, the Deputy City Attorney, the ordinance is intended to protect land that is economically viable within the port of the city from encroachment by non-industrial companies, including correctional and detention facilities.
Victor says that, while the claims are being reviewed, the city maintains that the regulatory and zoning claims under contention are within the city’s legal authority. Marilyn Strickland, the Mayor of Tacoma, and many council members disapproved of the center’s place in Tacoma last year following the election of President Donald Trump.