Northwest ICE Processing Center (NWIPC)

Northwest ICE Processing Center (NWIPC) is an ICE Enforcement and Removal Operations (ERO) detention facility located in Tacoma, Washington. It falls under the Seattle Field Office ERO field office area of responsibility.

Facility quick reference

How to locate or contact a detainee

To locate someone in ICE custody, use the ICE Online Detainee Locator System at locator.ice.gov. You will need the person’s A-number (Alien Registration Number) and country of birth, or their full name, country of birth, and date of birth.

ICE publishes two different numbers for this facility. To ask whether someone is held here, call (253) 779-6000. To leave an urgent message for a detainee, call (253) 396-1611 and leave the detainee’s full name and alien registration number (A-number), plus your own name and a phone number where you can be reached; the detainee is given the message. Detainees cannot receive incoming calls — they place outgoing calls themselves. Have the person’s biographical information ready when you call (first, last and hyphenated names, any aliases, date of birth, and country of birth). As of October 3, 2026, ICE’s page lists no answering hours for the information line. ICE says the facility has tablets, and that information on sending a detainee a non-confidential message is at gettingout.com.

Visiting in person

EOIR’s Tacoma Immigration Court page says street parking at Northwest ICE Processing Center is limited and there is no public transit accessibility in the immediate area. EOIR places Tacoma Dome Station one mile from the detention center (checked October 23, 2026); that is the same station ICE names as the nearest Pierce Transit stop.

ICE’s page for this facility (last updated 08/06/2026, checked October 3, 2026) publishes these rules for friends and family:

• Days: visitation is open every day, including federal holidays. ICE adds that visitation hours are subject to change and that schedules are posted in the dayrooms.
• Times, by date and classification level (as ICE prints them):
  • Even-numbered dates: 7:30 a.m. to 9:45 a.m. for Level 1 and 2 (low, medium-low); 12 p.m. to 4 p.m. and 6:30 p.m. to 9:45 p.m. for what ICE labels “Level 2, 3 (Medium-high, High classification)”.
  • Odd-numbered dates: 7:30 a.m. to 9:45 a.m. for Level 3 (medium-high, high); 12 p.m. to 4 p.m. and 6:30 p.m. to 9:45 p.m. for Level 1 and 2 (low, medium-low).
• Check-in: visitors must check in no later than 8:45 a.m., 2:45 p.m. or 8:15 p.m., respectively, to allow time for at least a one-hour visit; later arrivals are admitted but will not get a full hour.
• Length and group size: sessions are no less than one hour under normal conditions, and the Shift Supervisor may authorize more time for family members traveling significant distances; the facility may modify visiting periods in unforeseen circumstances, such as visitors exceeding visiting-room capacity. A maximum of two adults and two children may visit at one time, which ICE says will be interpreted flexibly and is subject to exceptions. Visitors are limited to one session per day unless time and scheduling permit additional visits.
• How: all family and other social visits are non-contact. Visitors who bring children (17 or younger) must keep them under direct supervision.
• ID: visitors must show appropriate picture identification.
• What you can carry in: no personal items in the visiting area; lockers are provided. No coats, jackets, vests, sweaters or sweatshirts with pockets or hoods; seasonal outerwear and overcoats go in the lockers.
• Dress code (visitors 12 and older): shorts must cover the buttocks and crotch when standing and sitting and may be no higher than mid-thigh (no short shorts, jogging shorts or cut-offs); for women and girls, skirts and dresses no higher than mid-thigh when seated, with slits no higher than mid-thigh when seated, no sheer clothing, tops no lower than the underarm in front and back, and no bare midriffs, strapless tops, tube tops or swimsuits; for men and boys, shirts at all times and no muscle, bare-midriff or sleeveless shirts. For everyone: shoes at all times; no gang colors or displays; no hats, caps or hoodies; no purses, bags or wallets.
• Money at the door: ICE says visitors may use the kiosk at the front entrance to place U.S. currency into a detainee’s account.

Everyone entering the facility or the visitation area is subject to a pat-down search, an inspection of belongings and a metal scan; anyone who refuses a reasonable search is not admitted, and visitors who are or appear intoxicated are turned away. No firearms or weapons of any kind anywhere in the facility, and no electronic devices (cell phones, pagers, radios) in the secure areas. For getting there, ICE lists parking on J Street immediately in front of the facility, and taxis or Pierce Transit buses, with the nearest stop at Tacoma Dome Station.

Sending mail, commissary funds, and personal items

Letters and packages sent to a detainee must identify the detainee and show the sender’s name and return address (this facility’s own format is below) — and each facility publishes its own exact format: some also require a housing-unit number, and facilities run by the federal Bureau of Prisons use the BOP register number instead. ICE lists each facility’s format on that facility’s page at ice.gov. This facility’s own ICE page says incoming mail “is not read upon opening, only inspected by the delivering officer” and that detainees may seal their own outgoing letters. ICE’s 2019 national standard allows more than that. Under ICE’s National Detention Standards, Revised 2019, §5.1(E) — cited here for comparison only, because ICE’s inspectors say this facility operates under the National Detention Standards 2025 instead (see the inspection record below), and we have not reviewed that standard’s mail rules — incoming general mail is opened and inspected for contraband, and outgoing general mail may be inspected and read if it is addressed to another detainee or staff have reason to believe it threatens the facility’s security or order, endangers someone, or could facilitate criminal activity. Only special correspondence — mail to or from attorneys and other legal representatives, courts and judges, government attorneys, embassies and consulates, the President and Vice President of the United States, members of Congress, the Department of Justice (including the immigration courts), DHS (including ICE/ERO, IHSC, CRCL and the DHS Inspector General), grievance administrators, and the news media — may not be read or copied by staff. Incoming special correspondence is inspected for contraband in the detainee’s presence; outgoing special correspondence is not opened, inspected or read, and if a need exists, any inspection takes place in the detainee’s presence. The standard limits any inspection to detecting physical contraband and confirming that enclosures qualify as special correspondence. Mail counts as special correspondence only if the envelope unambiguously identifies the title and office of the sender (incoming mail) or of the addressee (outgoing mail); PBNDS 2011 also requires the envelope to be labeled “special correspondence” or “legal mail.” Rules for commissary (account) deposits and permitted personal items vary by facility, and so does the number that handles them — ICE names a separate facility mail clerk on some facility pages. This facility’s deposit route, accepted form of payment and contacts are in the Sending Items to Detainees section of its own ICE page (linked above).

What ICE publishes for this facility’s mail, money, and packages

• Letters must include the last four digits of the detainee’s A-number, plus the sender’s name and address. Outgoing mail is routed to the post office within 24 hours of receipt by facility staff, and a mail pick-up and delivery schedule is posted in the housing units.
• Money: ICE’s visitation rules say visitors may use the kiosk at the front entrance to place U.S. currency into a detainee’s account. ICE’s mail section says funds received in the mail are taken to the processing area to be placed on the account, with a receipt from the processing officer, and that detainees are cautioned not to have cash sent to them in the mail. As of October 3, 2026, the page names no online or phone deposit service, and it does not say who a money order should be made payable to.
• Packages: ICE limits them to items needed solely for travel or release from custody, with the ICE Deportation Officer’s approval, and says to contact the Supervisory Immigration Enforcement Agent at the facility at (253) 779-6000 before sending one.
• Stamps: detainees may buy them; indigent detainees (no means of support and no funds in their facility account) get a postage allowance at government expense.
• Transfers and departures: only legal mail is forwarded; general correspondence is returned to sender.
• Luggage for removal: one small piece is allowed; if the person has none, luggage can be sent or delivered after approval from the Supervisory Deportation Officer. No electronic devices (cell phones, electric razors, laptops, radios) are accepted.

For how deposit routes differ from facility to facility, see how to send money to someone in ICE detention.

Legal access, attorneys, and immigration court information

Detainees have the right to speak with an attorney, and attorney–client visits and calls are confidential. For information about a case before the immigration court (EOIR), EOIR’s automated line 1-800-898-7180 (toll-free, 24 hours a day, English and Spanish) gives the next hearing date and case status; callers enter the 9 digits of the A-number, without the letter A (EOIR, checked October 24, 2026). For a matter before the Board of Immigration Appeals (BIA), the main line of EOIR (the Justice Department agency the BIA belongs to) is (703) 305-0289. Applications for relief from removal must be filed directly with the immigration court handling the case. If you cannot afford an attorney, the immigration court can provide a list of pro bono legal service providers — see the related resources below.

Legal visits, video calls and legal documents

ICE’s page for this facility publishes these channels for legal representatives (checked October 3, 2026):

• G-28s can be submitted through ICE’s online platform ERO eFile. Facility staff do not have access to ERO eFile, so representatives should bring a downloaded copy of the submitted G-28 to any in-person or remote legal visit.
• Case information: requests about people detained here go to Seattle.Outreach@ice.dhs.gov; ICE notes that this mailbox does not accept applications for a stay of removal or case appeals. To learn who a client’s Deportation Officer is, ICE directs representatives to the facility at (253) 779-6000, and a G-28 must be on file before any information is disclosed.
• In-person legal visits (8 a.m. to 10 p.m., including weekends and holidays) can be scheduled in advance through ERO eFile, first come, in 30-minute increments; back-to-back appointments are permitted but may not exceed 60 minutes. Walk-ins are still permitted, but scheduled visits are prioritized. Only Qualified Representatives appointed under Franco-Gonzalez v. Holder may book extended-time appointments through ERO eFile, from 11 a.m. to 4:30 p.m., including weekends and holidays, and may book up to two back-to-back appointments for the same client, subject to the facility’s approval. For an appointment under PBNDS 2011 Section 5.7 (V.N.1) and Section 4.3 (V.FF), the representative must upload the written request in Attorney Authorization Letter and the professional licensure/CV in Medical/Mental Health Evaluators.
• Video meetings and confidential legal calls are requested through ERO eFile for all scheduled appointments, 8 a.m. to 10 p.m., including weekends and holidays, subject to availability. Appointments are in 30-minute intervals, and two may be booked back-to-back to make a full 60 minutes; no representative may have more than one 60-minute appointment with a detainee in a single day. Appointments can be made up to 2 weeks ahead but no later than 24 hours before. The representative enters the meeting ID and passcode, or, for a phone call only, the phone number, before choosing a time. ICE requires uploads of the representative’s government-issued ID, proof of active legal-representative status (such as a bar card) and the ERO-eFiled G-28 (unless the visit is pre-representational). If a legal assistant is the only legal representative joining the call, the email should also include a letter of authorization on the firm’s/organization’s letterhead and a scan of the assistant’s identification. If no time slot is available or there is an exigent circumstance, ICE lists Nwipcattorney@geogroup.com.
• As of October 3, 2026, ICE’s page for this facility publishes no route for faxing or emailing legal documents to a detainee, although ICE posts one for some other facilities.

Free legal providers on EOIR’s list for the Tacoma Immigration Court

ICE says a list of pro bono (free) legal organizations, updated quarterly, is posted in the housing units, and that it is the detainee’s own responsibility to contact a provider for an appointment. ICE’s facility page does not name the immigration court that hears the cases of people held here, but EOIR’s Tacoma Immigration Court is at 1623 East J Street, Suite 3 — the same street address as the facility, which ICE lists as Suite 2 — and EOIR says the court is located in a DHS-controlled detention facility, pointing visitors to the Northwest ICE Processing Center’s website for entry rules. The court that actually hears a given case may still be a different one; confirm it from the A-number through EOIR’s hotline at 1-800-898-7180. On the October 2026 edition of EOIR’s List of Pro Bono Legal Service Providers, the entries under Tacoma Immigration Court are:

EOIR states that it does not endorse any of the organizations, referral services, or attorneys on its list.

Feedback, complaints, and oversight

To report a concern about conditions at this facility or the conduct of an ICE or contract employee, contact the ERO Seattle Field Office that oversees this facility, or file a complaint with the DHS Office for Civil Rights and Civil Liberties (CRCL). On its own Make a Civil Rights Complaint page DHS publishes one channel — the online portal at engage.dhs.gov/crcl-complaint; CBP additionally publishes, for the same office, the e-mail address CRCL@dhs.gov, fax (202) 401-4708, and the postal address DHS/CRCL, Compliance Branch, 2707 Martin Luther King Jr Ave SE, Mail Stop #0190, Washington, DC 20528-0190. The DHS Office of Inspector General (OIG) hotline is 1-800-323-8603.

This facility’s own ICE page adds these channels:

• Comments on the service provided: Field Office Director, Enforcement and Removal Operations, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, 12500 Tukwila International Boulevard, 4th Floor, Seattle, WA 98168.
• A misconduct complaint to the field office: the same Field Office Director address, or (206) 277-2000.
• ICE Office of Professional Responsibility (by mail): Director, Office of Professional Responsibility, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, 500 12th Street, SW, Suite 1049, Mailstop 5099, Washington, DC 20536-5005.
• ICE OPR Integrity Coordination Center: 1-833-4ICE-OPR or ICEOPRIntake@ice.dhs.gov.
• DHS OIG in writing: DHS Office of Inspector General, Attn: Office of Investigations - Hotline, 245 Murray Drive, Building 410 Stop: 2600, Washington, DC 20528 · fax (202) 245-5217 · DHSOIGHOTLINE@DHS.GOV.

A news reporter who wants to interview someone held here must apply in writing to the Seattle Field Office of Enforcement and Removal Operations. ICE says a detainee has the right not to be interviewed, photographed or recorded, and the reporter must first obtain the detainee’s written permission.

ICE inspection record

ICE’s Office of Detention Oversight (ODO), part of ICE’s Office of Professional Responsibility, inspected this facility on June 2–4, 2026 (ODO report, Inspection 2026-001-142). What the report says:

• Who runs it: the facility opened in 2001 and is owned and operated by The GEO Group; ICE has housed detainees there since 2001 under ERO Seattle. It is a contract detention facility operating under the National Detention Standards (NDS) 2025, and it holds male and female detainees of low, medium-low, medium-high and high security classification for periods longer than 72 hours.
• Staffing and services: ERO supervisory detention and deportation officers, deportation officers and a detention services manager are assigned full time, on site Monday through Friday, 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. GEO provides food service, ICE Health Service Corps provides medical care, and Keefe Commissary Network provides commissary. The facility was accredited by the National Commission on Correctional Health Care in January 2021 and the American Correctional Association in April 2021, and was DHS PREA certified after a January 2023 audit.
• Findings: compliant with 21 of 24 NDS 2025 standards reviewed; 3 deficiencies, one of them a priority component:
  • Use of Force and Restraints: in 1 of 10 recordings of calculated uses of force, the faces of all five team members did not briefly appear with helmets removed, as the standard requires.
  • Medical Care (priority component): in 1 of 25 medical records, the comprehensive health assessment was not done until 22 days after the detainee arrived, against a 14-day requirement.
  • Significant Self-Harm and Suicide Prevention: in 3 of 9 suicide-watch logs, 4 instances where clinical staff performed welfare checks between 9 hours 30 minutes and 13 hours 45 minutes apart, against an every-8-hours requirement. ODO notes this would have been a repeat deficiency had the facility stayed under its previous standard.
• Detainee interviews: ODO tried to interview 21 detainees; 20 agreed and 1 refused. Nineteen reported satisfaction with facility services. One alleged she was physically assaulted by medical staff during a seizure; ODO found that a seizure event involving facility and medical staff occurred on April 17, 2026, referred the allegation to the ICE OPR Integrity Coordination Center on June 4, 2026, and reported the investigation as ongoing when the report was written.
• Rating: Good, the same rating as in fiscal year 2025, when ODO reviewed 28 standards under PBNDS 2011 (Revised 2016) and found 3 deficiencies. ODO says the change of standards prevents a trend comparison.

ODO redacts bed-capacity and population counts in the published report; for population, see the ICE statistics box above. ICE lists every posted report on its ODO facility inspections page, where older reports for this facility appear under the names Northwest Detention Center and Tacoma ICE Processing Center.

Earlier inspection — August 13-15, 2024. The unannounced follow-up compliance report for Tacoma ICE Processing Center (Northwest Detention CTR) records:

• Post orders: after reviewing 25 post orders, ODO found that the facility administrator had last reviewed the kitchen post order in December 2022.

• Religious-program notices: 1 out of 21 housing units lacked the current religious-program posting on its detainee bulletin board. ODO marked this as a repeat deficiency.

• Electronic requests: ODO’s August 13–15, 2024 report says that, among 15 electronic ICE requests reviewed, ERO Seattle replied to 8 between 5 and 10 days after receipt and had not replied to 2 others at the time of the inspection; detainees had submitted those 2 requests 35 and 38 days before the inspection began.

• Paper request log: ODO’s August 13–15, 2024 report says ERO Seattle continued responding to paper ICE requests but stopped logging them in March 2024 because it was understaffed with deportation officers.

• Mental-health referral: ODO’s August 13–15, 2024 report says a mental-health provider evaluated a detainee 37 days after receiving the referral.

These findings describe the August 2024 inspection.

287(g) agreements: ICE's 287(g) participating-agencies workbook, dated October 9, 2026, lists no agency in Washington. (source: ICE · what 287(g) is)

Related procedural resources

• Know Your Rights — what to do if ICE detains you
• EOIR immigration court schedules and procedures
• BIA-recognized legal-aid organizations in Washington
• Other ICE detention facilities in Washington
• All facilities under the Seattle Field Office
• How to send money to someone in ICE detention