A man was found dead on March 7 while detained at the immigration detention center in Tacoma. On Friday, the University of Washington researchers released an analysis saying the man, 61-year-old Charles Leo Daniel from Trinidad and Tobago, was possibly held in solitary confinement for close to four years.
That would be one of the longest stays in isolation at any immigration facility in the U.S. The United Nations regards solitary confinement of more than 15 consecutive days as a form of torture.
Protesters have camped out in front of the detention center around the clock because of Daniel’s death.
ICE first took Charles Leo Daniel into custody in 2020, after he served a roughly 16-year sentence for murder. La Resistencia said Daniel was also held in solitary confinement there for 15 years while he served his sentence. Tobby Hatley, media relations manager for the Washington state Department of Corrections, initially denied this. Christopher Wright, communications director for the department, later admitted Daniel was alone in his cell for more than 20 hours a day for the majority of the time he spent in Washington state prisons.
Neither ICE nor GEO Group, the private company that operates the Northwest ICE Processing Center where he was held, have confirmed he was in solitary confinement. They also haven’t said why he was detained for so long despite a judge ordering his deportation four years ago.
"I’m angry that they could let this death happen, that these things continue happening," said Maru Mora Villalpando, an undocumented immigrant who herself has fought to remain in the U.S.
She’s participating in a hunger strike, and she said she’s sleeping outside the facility for the foreseeable future to keep a close eye on the detention center and those operating it.
"If we don’t do this, who is going to know what is happening? ICE is not going to tell anyone. GEO is not going to tell anyone," she said.
Another man died by suicide while being held in solitary confinement at the same facility in 2018. According to a 2020 report by the University of Washington Center for Human Rights, this facility holds people in solitary longer on average than any other immigration detention center in the country.
Villalpando is part of a protest organized by La Resistencia, which has long pushed for the closure of the Tacoma facility. They’ve been joined by a Japanese American activist organization known as Tsuru for Solidarity.
The solemn scene was periodically broken up by expressions of joy.
Officials had released detainees in small numbers as part of routine operations, as long as they promised to return to immigration court at a later date. La Resistencia said it suspects some detainees are being released because they've witnessed abuse.
Claude Cameus, from Haiti, was one of those released. He was held for about five months. He’d been participating in an ongoing hunger strike with dozens of other detainees that started after Daniel’s death.
Detainees at the facility, which can hold more than 1,500, have long complained of mistreatment, and a lack of decent food and cleanliness. Cameus said it had not been easy being in detention. He said he saw people try to take their own life.
"Inside the facility people try to take their own life all the time," Cameus said in Spanish.
The Washington state Department of Health and the Department of Labor and Industries have tried to inspect the facility time and time again, only to be turned away by guards and other GEO Group staff.
Earlier this month, a federal district court sided with the operator. The judge’s preliminary ruling said the new state law meant to allow inspections at the facility is unconstitutional and violates the Supremacy Clause, which dictates certain federal laws take priority over state rules.
As the sun began to set one recent afternoon, people arrived for a vigil dedicated to Daniel and lit candles.
Through a blowhorn, Villalpando with La Resistencia thanked hunger strikers released from the detention center for their sacrifices.
"Up with freedom, down with the detention center. Thank you to those who went on a hunger strike. Thank you for your work. Thank you for your sacrifice and for being with us," Villalpando told a small crowd of detainees in Spanish.
Becca Asaki read a poem that draws parallels between Japanese American incarceration during World World II and today’s detention system.
The protesters said they will continue to push for a congressional hearing on deaths in ICE detention and an independent investigation into Daniel’s death.
On Wednesday, Washington Sen. Patty Murray, the president pro tempore of the Senate, issued a statement, condemning Daniel's death.
"Reports of mistreatment, unsanitary conditions, and the excessive use of solitary confinement at the Tacoma immigrant detention center are completely unacceptable," Murray said.
She said that migrants in custody deserve the same human dignity and rights as anyone else. And added that she supports the use of alternatives to detention programs for asylum seekers and other immigrants who are waiting for their immigration cases to be resolved.
Murray’s staff visited the ICE detention center in Tacoma about 15 minutes after Daniel was first discovered dead. But her staff found out about his death only after they left the facility, by reading KNKX reporting later that day.
