University of Washington Center for Human Rights
LightNews LightNews
banner
uwchr.bsky.social
University of Washington Center for Human Rights
@uwchr.bsky.social
370 followers 170 following 200 posts
We partner with organizations on the front lines of local & global human rights struggles to conduct research in the service of real-world social change.
Posts Replies Media Videos
uwchr.bsky.social
Six of the seven men were sent to CECOT via King County Int'l Airport (Boeing Field). All six were booked out of NWDC on 3/8/25, and flew on the same #GlobalX flight serviced by #SignatureAviation, from Boeing Field to Webb County Detention Center in Laredo, Texas, then sent to CECOT on 3/15/25.
Map showing a route from King County, Washington to Webb County Detention Center in Texas, to CECOT in El Salvador.
November 12, 2025 at 10:50 PM
uwchr.bsky.social
What is WA state's role in these abuses?

Our 2025 report, "Gross Human Rights Violations in Washington State," found that at least seven migrant Washingtonians were sent to El Salvador’s notorious megaprison CECOT.

Learn more: bsky.app/profile/uwch...
uwchr.bsky.social University of Washington Center for Human Rights @uwchr.bsky.social · Aug 22
Using multiple data sources, researchers identified and documented cases of such abuses during recent months, several of which have not previously been reported:
Cases of refoulement and enforced disappearances with ties to WA state: 7 Washingtonians expelled to El Salvador’s notorious megaprison CECOT, in violation of a federal court order, where they were likely subjected to torture and other forms of abuse 6 Washingtonians sent to U.S. military detention facilities at Guantánamo Bay, Cuba, without access to counsel or information to their families 1 Washingtonian who was expelled to South Sudan, a country where he has no personal ties, following attempts to remove him in violation of a federal court order 2 families, including U.S. citizen children, who were held incommunicado in Customs and Border Protection facilities for weeks in Washington state
November 12, 2025 at 10:50 PM
uwchr.bsky.social
Everett Herald Editorial Board covers UWCHR's latest report, "Leaving the Door Wide Open: Flock Surveillance Systems Expose Washington Data to Immigration Enforcement."

jsis.washington.edu/humanrights/...
Leaving the Door Wide Open: Flock Surveillance Systems Expose Washington Data to Immigration Enforcement. New Report: tinyurl.com/WAflock. University of Washington Center for Human Rights. Stylized digital collage showing border patrol and police agents looking into Washington state Flock data.
November 5, 2025 at 5:36 PM
uwchr.bsky.social
Read our full research update:

jsis.washington.edu/humanrights/...
NWDC Conditions Research Update: Ongoing Concern for TPD Response to Crimes in Immigration Detention - Center for Human Rights
This report is part of a series regarding Human Rights Conditions at the Northwest Detention Center in Tacoma, Washington, based on ongoing research efforts and released to highlight initial findings in the urgent context of the COVID-19 pandemic. Contents: • Introduction • Background, Methodology, and Human Rights Standards • Sanitation of Food and Laundry •
jsis.washington.edu
October 30, 2025 at 4:14 PM
uwchr.bsky.social
Where are the records?

Since publishing the TPD report, UWCHR has experienced significant delays in receiving responses to our public records requests—to the point where, in some cases, the records risk being destroyed before we ever receive them.
WHERE ARE THE RECORDS? Since publishing the April 2025 report, UWCHR has experienced significant delays in receiving responses to our public records requests. In some cases, the records risk being destroyed before we ever receive them. Screenshot of South Sound 911's FOIA portal showing a records request “Awaiting Agency Response.” Many of these requests have now been delayed so long that the underlying records are outside the 90-day period for which preservation of audio records is required by state law, suggesting that the records may be destroyed before they can be examined by researchers.
October 30, 2025 at 4:14 PM
uwchr.bsky.social
Six months after the report release, we continue to analyze South Sound 911 calls between the detention center and law enforcement.

Despite multiple meetings with City of Tacoma officials, UWCHR remains gravely concerned about responses to crimes occurring at the facility.
IN APRIL 2025, we published "TPD Doesn’t Respond Here,” a report documenting patterns of neglect in TPD’s reponse to assault and abuse inside the NWDC. SINCE THEN, records show the problems continue: >> Reports of sexual and non-sexual assaults continue to go unanswered by ICE or TPD. >> Detained people are unable to call 911 from within the facility without the assistance of GEO personnel. Many rely on family, lawyers, or even the WA Dept. of Health to call TPD on their behalf. >> In multiple cases, instead of ensuring privacy of communications by using a language line to translate for non-English speakers, GEO guards were asked to translate for detained people seeking to report crimes of a sexual nature.
October 30, 2025 at 4:14 PM
uwchr.bsky.social
Our April 2025 report looked at ten years of call logs between NWDC and South Sound 911.

ICE & GEO Group’s practice of dealing with reports “in house” can leave those reporting assaults with no contact whatsoever with anyone other than the people holding them in detention.

bsky.app/profile/uwch...
uwchr.bsky.social University of Washington Center for Human Rights @uwchr.bsky.social · Apr 24
New report!

The latest report in our series on conditions at the Northwest Detention Center, “TPD Doesn’t Respond Here,” finds patterns of neglect in Tacoma Police Department’s response to reports of crimes at the detention facility.

jsis.washington.edu/humanrights/...
Purple tinted photo of a Tacoma police car with the overlaid text: New report - “TPD Deesn’t Respond Here”: Patterns of neglect in addressing crime at NWDC www.tinyurl.com/TPDdoesntrespondhere
October 30, 2025 at 4:14 PM
uwchr.bsky.social
Today, we’re on our seventh FOIA lawsuit, this time against ICE and DHS for proactive disclosure of documents heavily used in our research into conditions at the Northwest Detention Center in Tacoma, WA.

bsky.app/profile/uwch...
uwchr.bsky.social University of Washington Center for Human Rights @uwchr.bsky.social · Jan 23
ICYMI: We're suing ICE and DHS, again.

In November we filed our 7th #FOIA lawsuit, seeking proactive release of three key types of documents on a quarterly basis:

1. I-213 forms
2. Segregation Review Management System data
3. Significant Incident Reports

jsis.washington.edu/humanrights/...
October 29, 2025 at 7:29 PM
uwchr.bsky.social
What is #FOIA?

Enacted in 1966 by congress, the Freedom of Information Act establishes the right of people and orgs to access gov information. The federal government must provide the information, aside from a few exceptions.

Anyone can submit a FOIA request.

jsis.washington.edu/humanrights/...
How to FOIA: A guide to filing freedom of information act requests. By Emily Willard
October 29, 2025 at 7:29 PM
uwchr.bsky.social
“We can neither confirm nor deny the existence of records.”

In response to our 2015 request, the CIA wouldn't release records that we knew they had. That they refused to acknowledge the existence of any docs suggested they weren't in compliance with the law.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=oOgL...
Access to Information as a Human Right: UWCHR v. CIA
YouTube video by UW Center for Human Rights
www.youtube.com
October 29, 2025 at 7:29 PM
uwchr.bsky.social
For more information about WA state's role in gross human rights violations:

jsis.washington.edu/humanrights/...
Gross Human Rights Violations in WA State: Enforced Disappearances and Refoulement. www.tinyurl.com/WAdisappearances. Outline of WA state split into three sections with collaged handcuffs, detention bars, and Global X plane.
October 27, 2025 at 6:20 PM
uwchr.bsky.social
This means that in WA, our most famous philanthropist grows his investments in part by supporting a company complicit in gross human rights abuses—and public workers’ retirements are being financed in part through investments in orgs that profit from the detention and deportation of our neighbors.
Involvement of local public and private institutions: Seattle-Tacoma International Airport and King County International Airport (Boeing Field), both of which provide the infrastructure through which deportations happen daily; Washington State’s Department of Corrections, which collaborates with ICE in the detention of migrants completing a prison sentence; Signature Aviation, a private company providing fuel and support to private charter flights operating for ICE at King County International Airport; and the Washington State Investment Board, which invests the retirement funds of public employees in GEO Group and the firms that own Signature Aviation.
October 27, 2025 at 6:20 PM
uwchr.bsky.social
➡️Cascade Investments, L.L.C., doing business as Cascade Asset Management Company, is controlled by Bill Gates and owns 30% of Signature Aviation.

www.huffpost.com/entry/bill-g...
Donald Trump's Mass Deportation Agenda Has A Surprising Stakeholder: Bill Gates
One of the billionaire's investments has become a linchpin in the day-to-day machinery of Trump’s immigration enforcement apparatus.
www.huffpost.com
October 27, 2025 at 6:20 PM
uwchr.bsky.social
But what about WA?

➡️The WA State Investment Board, the entity that invests retirement dollars of public workers has chosen to invest these workers’ money in Global Infrastructure Partners, Blackstone, and Blackrock—part owners of Signature Aviation.

www.krem.com/article/news...
Report alleges several Washington institutions are complicit in 'gross' human rights violations amid uptick in ICE activity
The University of Washington's Center for Human Rights alleges that state institutions and private companies are profiting from federal immigration enforcement.
www.krem.com
October 27, 2025 at 6:20 PM
uwchr.bsky.social
Through front, side, and back door searches, Flock systems open the doors to WA data being searched to target immigrants and people seeking reproductive or gender-affirming health care.
Flock audits reveal multiple forms of access to local automated license plate reader systems by federal agencies and out of state law enforcement, including “front door” access via 1:1 sharing; “back door” access, in which records reveal searches despite direct sharing not being explicitly enabled; and “side door” access, in which local users make searches of networks to which they have access on behalf of federal immigration agencies, with keywords such as “ICE” or “immigration”.
October 24, 2025 at 9:14 PM
uwchr.bsky.social
Learn more about our latest report:

“Leaving the Door Wide Open” finds Flock Safety automated license plate reader technology threatens Washingtonians’ rights to privacy, protections for immigrants, and access to reproductive and gender-affirming healthcare.

jsis.washington.edu/humanrights/...
Leaving the Door Wide Open: Flock Surveillance Systems Expose Washington Data to Immigration Enforcement. New Report: tinyurl.com/WAflock. University of Washington Center for Human Rights. Stylized digital collage showing border patrol and police agents looking into Washington state Flock data.
October 22, 2025 at 8:51 PM
uwchr.bsky.social
Our latest report, “Leaving the Door Wide Open,” finds Flock Safety automated license plate reader technology threatens Washingtonians’ rights to privacy, protections for immigrants, and access to reproductive and gender-affirming healthcare.

Read more:
jsis.washington.edu/humanrights/...
Leaving the Door Wide Open: Flock Surveillance Systems Expose Washington Data to Immigration Enforcement. New Report: tinyurl.com/WAflock. University of Washington Center for Human Rights. Stylized digital collage showing border patrol and police agents looking into Washington state Flock data.
October 22, 2025 at 4:30 PM