The Washington State Department of Health confirmed July 31 that there were seven suspected cases of tuberculosis (TB) at the Northwest ICE Processing Center in Tacoma, prompting urgent questions about health conditions and medical care at the federal immigrant detention facility. This has been a systemic problem, as underscored by a recent Human Rights Watch report that detailed the inhumane conditions faced by the tens of thousands being held in ICE custody.
The outbreak in Tacoma is linked to a series of detainee transfers between Washington state and Alaska over the summer. In June, 40 immigration detainees were transferred from Tacoma to Anchorage, Alaska. That facility was described as having “very poor” conditions, including terrible food and subpar medical attention. Immigration attorney Nicolas Olano noted the move was “unusual” and compared it to “punishing the immigrant and punishing their families and creating fear and distress upon everybody.” Detainees told their attorneys they were unable to leave their overcrowded holding cells for long or to go outside.
Then, on June 30, 35 of these detainees were transferred back to Tacoma from the Anchorage complex. They were notified by ICE that they had been exposed to tuberculosis during their detention. Some detainees reportedly tested positive for latent TB and underwent further medical evaluations while in custody. However, the Alaska Department of Corrections (DOC) attempted to deny these claims, stating that all ICE detainees were thoroughly screened for TB by their own medical staff when they were admitted, and all tests for active TB came back negative.
Attempting to minimize the seriousness of the outbreak, DOC spokesperson Betsy Holley stated that latent TB is not contagious and even active TB typically requires prolonged, close contact over months, not just days. Despite this, the ACLU is questioning whether the Alaska facility followed proper medical screening protocols, whether staff were tested, and if the outbreak was reported to the Alaska Department of Health within the legally required timeframe. The incident has sparked renewed scrutiny of health and safety standards in ICE detention facilities.
Tuberculosis is a dangerous and potentially deadly airborne disease that mainly affects the lungs, but can also spread to other parts of the body. It spreads through the air when someone with TB coughs, sneezes, or even simply talks, and it can be contagious even before it causes symptoms to appear. While some people carry the bacteria without feeling sick (known as latent TB), the disease can become active later—especially in those with weakened immune systems—causing symptoms like coughing, fever, weight loss and night sweats. Without treatment, active TB can be fatal and highly infectious.
This makes early detection and treatment critical, especially in high-risk settings like ICE detention centers, where crowded conditions and limited access to healthcare can lead to rapid outbreaks. These facilities are known “hotspots” for TB, and unchecked spread inside them can easily reach the broader community. Fear of stigma or deportation can prevent people from seeking care, allowing the disease to worsen and increasing the risk of developing drug-resistant TB, which is even harder to treat. Addressing TB in these settings isn’t just a medical issue—it’s a public health priority that demands urgent attention.
Attorney Sean Quirk, who represents one of the detainees, discovered his client had contracted TB after the detainee missed two scheduled meetings following his transfer back to Tacoma. Quirk had to cold-call hospitals in the Tacoma area to locate his client, as detention center staff initially refused to disclose his whereabouts. Quirk’s client was later confirmed by the Washington State Department of Health as one of the seven suspected TB cases. Quirk summed up what ICE did to his client: “They went to Alaska in these punitive conditions and returned with this infectious disease.”
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He also highlighted the alarming lack of communication from authorities, noting, “The U.S. government effectively disappeared my client for over a week.” The confirmed cases have led human rights advocates to reiterate longstanding concerns about the Tacoma facility, and others across the country, particularly since immigration detainees are held for civil infractions but face “prison-like conditions.”
Overcrowding, filth and neglect at Florida detention centers
The grim picture painted by the Human Rights Watch Report on three detention facilities in Florida is devastating. Detainees held in Krome center, Broward Transitional Center, and the Federal Detention Center (FDC) are facing inhumane, overcrowded and dangerous conditions that flagrantly violate both international human rights standards and ICE’s own detention guidelines. Men are crammed into cells at more than double capacity, sleeping shoulder to shoulder on floors or makeshift cots, and sometimes confined in frigid “ice boxes” for days on end without bedding, warmth or privacy. At Krome, tents were erected on sports fields to house the overflow.
The lack of medical care is particularly cruel. Detainees with chronic illnesses have been denied medications or told they were faking symptoms. Requests for help were routinely ignored, sometimes with vicious mockery. One man who later tested positive for tuberculosis was dismissed by guards who laughed at his complaints of pain. Delays and denial of care led to preventable suffering and even death—two individuals died after visible medical emergencies were handled inadequately by staff.
Sanitary conditions are deplorable. Detainees report overflowing toilets, no access to soap or showers, and buses with non-functional restrooms during transport. Food, when it arrives, is often late, cold, or nutritionally inadequate, with some detainees—shackled and forced to eat bent over—likening the experience to being treated “like dogs.” These reports paint a grim and urgent picture of life inside ICE detention, where neglect and abuse are not exceptions but the norm.
The Trump administration is undertaking this unprecedented expansion of immigration detention in support of a sweeping mass deportation strategy. Backed by a $45 billion allocation from Trump’s “big, beautiful bill,” ICE is moving to nearly double its detention capacity to 61,000 beds nationwide. At the center of this expansion is the construction of new state-run detention facilities, such as “Alligator Alcatraz” in the Florida Everglades—a remote complex built in just over a week with tents and trailers. Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem has framed such harsh, isolated environments as part of a deterrence policy meant to signal dire consequences for undocumented immigrants.
Conditions inside these rapidly constructed sites mirror longstanding abuses documented in other facilities. Detainees at “Alligator Alcatraz” have reported food with maggots, denial of medical and religious accommodations, and limited access to legal counsel. Acting ICE Director Todd Lyons has made clear that while enforcement focuses on so-called “criminal aliens,” anyone in the U.S. without legal status is a target for removal—including asylum-seekers and individuals without criminal records. Nearly half of those detained so far this year have no criminal history, and the number of non-criminal detainees has nearly doubled in recent months.
A deliberate policy of abuse and maltreatment
The administration has also revived and expanded controversial enforcement mechanisms, including the use of agreements with local law enforcement, arrests at formerly protected locations like schools and clinics, and the termination of Temporary Protected Status and humanitarian parole. Arrest quotas for ICE officers have doubled, and facilities are being planned near airports in multiple states to enable rapid processing and deportation.
ICE’s average daily population has reached a record 56,400, up 42 percent since Trump’s second inauguration, and the highest in US history. While deportation figures under Obama were also historically high, the current administration’s open embrace of punitive conditions, mass arrests, and the targeting of vulnerable immigrants represents a further escalation. Statements from top officials confirm that deterrence through suffering is not acccidental but rather a central feature of their strategy.
In this sense, the emergence of TB among detainees is a symptom of a broader turn to fascistic forms of rule that has made immigrants its first target. The TB outbreak poses a serious and under-acknowledged public health risk within U.S. immigration detention and incarceration systems. Scientific data confirm that TB incidence among ICE detainees is dramatically higher than in the general population. Between 2014 and 2016, the TB rate among screened ICE detainees reached 92.8 cases per 100,000, which is over 30 times higher than the rate for US-born individuals and six times higher than that for non–US-born individuals nationwide.
These elevated rates mirror global patterns, where TB incidence in prisons is nine times higher than in the general population, driven by systemic underdiagnosis, poor detection and overcrowded conditions. The environments within U.S. detention centers, which routinely violate national and international laws, are marked by poor ventilation, lack of routine healthcare and unsanitary, crowded living spaces, and have created ideal conditions for TB transmission.
And the impact is not contained within prison walls, as such diseases do not respect such borders. Studies have traced community outbreaks to strains originating in carceral facilities. Incarcerated individuals, particularly those who cycle in and out of detention, remain at elevated TB risk long after release, perpetuating transmission in underserved communities. Without systemic changes—including improved housing conditions, comprehensive screening and post-release care—detention facilities will continue to serve as accelerators of TB spread, endangering both detained individuals and the broader public.
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