Medical neglect at the NW Detention Center

Advocates report that after being denied care for months, an immigrant father held at the for-profit immigration detention center in Tacoma now faces amputation 

TACOMA, WA (October 27, 2025) — Advocates gathered in front of St. Joseph Medical Center in Tacoma on Friday, calling for freedom and medical care for a Filipino immigrant who has been held in the Northwest Detention Center (NWDC) since March. Kuya G — as he is known by activists with Tanggol Migrante Network Washington, who use the Filipino term of respect and endearment for a brother, ‘Kuya’ — was being treated inside St. Joe’s as the rally occurred. For months, he has suffered severe pain, without care at the detention center, advocates report. This past week, he finally received care from qualified medical professionals after extreme symptoms forced NWDC to send him to St. Joe’s. There, he has been diagnosed with colitis and a bone infection so severe he will have to have his toe amputated.

The rally was organized by Tanggol Migrante, the Defend Migrants Alliance, and the International Migrants Alliance, who were joined by members of the Machinists, Washington State Nurses Association, and community members. Per Tanggol Migrante, Kuya G is a lawful permanent resident.

Labor and community rallying outside of the Northwest Detention Center in March.

NWDC is privately-run by a company that profits off detention and incarceration, GEO Group. It is notorious for inhumane conditions. Union siblings held there, like Alfredo ‘Lelo’ Juarez Zeferino, Maximo Londonio, and Lewellyn Dixon have detailed the conditions; upon her release, Dixon called it “hell.” Those held have reported that medical care is scarce, food is often inedible, people are denied access to basic hygiene, solitary confinement is used to retaliate and intimidate, and overcrowding is making conditions even worse.

These horrors are not unique to the NWDC; GEO Group and fellow prison-profiteer CoreCivic run detention facilities across the U.S., holding human beings in unlivable conditions while raking in hundreds of millions in government contracts. In 2024 alone, GEO Group reported revenue of more than $2.4 billion, anticipated to sharply increase with funding from the Trump administration secured through H.R. 1. 

Advocates are calling for comprehensive medical care for Kuya G, to prevent him being transferred back to the inhumane conditions at NWDC, and for the closure of NWDC and release of all those held in the for-profit detention center.

Washington’s labor movement has also called for the closure of NWDC for nearly a decade, and reaffirmed it’s commitment to shutting down all for-profit detention centers at the 2025 Convention of the Washington State Labor Council, AFL-CIO with Resolution 2025.22.