ICE detention contracts state law is now the fight behind a new federal procurement. US Immigration and Customs Enforcement posted draft terms for 5,500 private detention beds that say state and local laws “shall not apply” to facility operations, according to federal documents reviewed by WIRED.
The language appeared on a federal contracting site on July 10, one day after US District Judge Benjamin Settle ordered the GEO Group to let Washington health officials inspect the immigration detention center in Tacoma. Settle ruled that GEO’s contract with ICE did not block state inspectors and that a private agreement with the federal government could not wipe away state law.
A Ninth Circuit judge paused that order on July 21. A decision on a longer stay is expected in early August, according to WIRED.
Can ICE contracts override state law?
Settle’s answer, at least at this early stage of the Washington case, was no. In his ruling, he wrote that federal preemption requires congressional intent, not contract language, and said GEO’s newer ICE contract could not preempt state law “even if it purports to.”
The ruling followed three years of litigation over access to the Tacoma facility. Washington officials said inspectors were refused 10 times, and the state cited 3,500 complaints from detainees. Two people have died at the facility since 2024, according to the state.
Settle also said GEO had signed a new ICE contract while the lawsuit was underway to support its argument that ICE, rather than GEO, controlled access to the building. He noted that a GEO court filing left out part of a provision in which ICE agreed to ask the Justice Department to seek GEO’s dismissal from lawsuits over its performance, or to substitute ICE as the defendant.
Which detention centers are covered?
The July 10 draft terms describe four regional awards. Project Salt Box first reported the procurement. WIRED reported that the required locations and bed counts line up with four GEO-run detention centers: Tacoma, Washington; Aurora, Colorado; Pompano Beach, Florida; and Philipsburg, Pennsylvania.
The document gives contractors 30 days after an award to begin housing detainees, a schedule that would not fit new construction. Companies had less than a week to respond before the July 17 deadline. The Florida requirement calls for 700 beds, matching the Pompano Beach facility’s contracted bed guarantee in ICE facility data, according to WIRED.
The existing arrangements for the four sites are nearing expiration. Tacoma’s contract runs through October 27, the Pennsylvania county agreement expires September 28, and GEO securities filings say the Colorado and Florida terms end in October and September, respectively.
What else would the draft terms change?
The procurement could move the Colorado, Florida, and Pennsylvania facilities to ICE’s June National Detention Standards. ICE has said those standards will “reduce the burden” on contractors, according to NBC News. ICE records show three of the four facilities were last inspected under stricter 2011 performance-based standards. Tacoma was reinspected in June under the newer standards after its latest contract took effect.
The June standards limit detainee “voluntary work” pay to no more than $1 per day and say participants are not employees owed wages or benefits, according to Public Citizen. They also allow AI translation tools for “non-critical” detainee communications and restrict operators from refusing people ICE assigns to a facility, except at ICE’s discretion.
Under the draft contract language, outside inspections would be limited to ICE, ICE-approved third-party inspectors, and other federal officials. Facilities could also operate indefinitely at 85 percent staffing, including medical staffing, according to WIRED.
ICE’s own detention oversight office inspected Tacoma in June and found a required health assessment that was 22 days late, plus suicide-watch welfare checks separated by nearly 14 hours instead of the required eight. The inspection also recorded an allegation, now under internal ICE investigation, that medical staff assaulted a detainee during a seizure.
DHS and GEO Group did not respond to WIRED’s requests for comment. In Pennsylvania, a direct federal contract would also remove Clearfield County from the arrangement at a detention center where residents have filled public meetings to oppose renewal of the county agreement.
This story draws on original reporting from WIRED.
