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When an assault happens here at the Northwest ICE Processing Center, GEO Group, the private company running the facility, says they conduct an internal investigation to determine wrongdoing and ways to prevent future assault.

But as Multimedia Journalist Jaelynn Grisso reports advocates say that process is often mishandled and evidence ignored.

-The University of Washington Center for Human Rights researched about 150 instances of alleged assault at the detention center from 2015 to 2025.

Of those, more than half were determined to be unsubstantiated, including a case where a DNA sample might have proven the assault.

In June 2024, a man detained at the center reported being forced to give oral sex to another detained man on multiple occasions.

He saved a semen sample for DNA analysis, but two months later, in August, before the sample had been analyzed, the internal investigation concluded that the assault was unsubstantiated.

The sample was later confirmed by Tacoma police to be from the man's accused rapist.

Angelina Godoy, who analyzed the records, says she found a pattern of disregarding evidence in internal investigations.

-They say there's no video evidence available.

Well, we know from the facility that there's oftentimes cameras and they're simply not checking the cameras.

-GEO Group said, quote, GEO mandates zero tolerance toward all forms of sexual abuse and sexual harassment in all its facilities, end quote.

The contract between GEO and ICE also requires the company to determine how to prevent future assaults.

But Godoy says that part of the process is often ignored.

-Next time, we'll take a deeper dive into investigations of assaults at the facility.

Thanks for watching The Newsfeed.

I'm Paris Jackson.