Welcome to The Newsfeed.

I'm Paris Jackson.

About 1500 detainees are at the Northwest ICE Processing Center in Tacoma.

We're taking a closer look at complaints from inside the facility about concerns ranging from access to legal services and overcrowding.

We reached out to ICE to ask about the claims of overcrowding.

They said, quote, “There is no overcrowding at ICE ICE has worked diligently to obtain greater necessary detention space while avoiding overcrowding.” However, the University of Washington's Center for Human Rights tracks people coming in and out of the facility.

Their data shows the center has been nearly at its more than 1500 person capacity for most of this year, and even went above capacity briefly over the summer.

We sat down with private immigration attorney Larkin VanDerhoef to learn what his clients in the facility are experiencing.

Larkin, you've been working with clients at the Northwest ICE Processing Center for about 12 years now.

What are you hearing about capacity issues?

-Yeah, in the time that I've been working with people down there that we've seen the population ebb and flow, depending on administrations and priorities.

And probably the lowest was during COVID in 2020 and 2021.

But this year under this administration, we've seen it go, pretty quickly, grow to, what we believe to be at or near capacity, which is over 1500 people.

Access to legal services is another complaint.

What are detainees facing day to day due to the increased number of people at the detention center?

-Well, we understand the contract that the GEO Group, who runs the facility, has with the Department of Homeland Security is they are to provide, by the contract, ten, spaces or rooms for legal visits.

They've never provided that in the time that I've been working with people down there.

And in fact, it was, seven rooms that, more recently has been, two have been taken away.

They're using now two entirely for court hearings being done by video in front of judges across the country.

So we've seen a dramatic increase in the population, and in fact, a decrease in actual physical access to, to be able to visit our clients.

The government is not required to provide detainees with legal counsel.

So detainees must seek their own counsel.

And with the high number of people being in the detention center, how has that impacted the quality of legal counsel?

-So with the ending of the legal orientation program that at least provided individuals with a legal assessment to know what their options are.

And with issues of limiting access, it seems pretty clear that the goal is to have more cases conclude in the immigration court without lawyers, because it certainly is easier and quicker to deport somebody who doesn't know their legal rights or options.

So, Larkin, and you had a client there name Alfredo Juarez Zeferino and he, among others, filed complaints about the food.

What did he tell you?

-He was detained earlier this year after the dramatic increase in the population and what also seemed to be very significant understaffing in the facility.

And so, among many issues that he encountered, was, food was served often very late.

And by late I mean dinner at 1 a.m.

in the morning and also food, oftentimes undercooked, sometimes still frozen in the center.

And presumably because there were not enough people working in the kitchen, he also encountered issues with access to medical treatment.

The facility says they provide, medical treatment around the clock.

And while they do have medical staff, reports have shown that they're chronically understaffed.

You can go to what's called sick call in the morning.

If you want to see a doctor for any reason, and get in line.

And they may or may not be able to see you that day.

In a statement regarding claims, ICE's spokesperson wrote, “All detainees are provided with proper meals, potable water, medical treatment to include sick call and emergency services as needed.

Proper facility conditions are ensured through thorough inspections and any claims otherwise are false.” I'm Paris Jackson, thank you for watching The Newsfeed, your destination for nonprofit Northwest news.

Go to CascadePBS.org for more.