‘Detention Will Break You’: Visiting Detainees In Tacoma, Washington – OpEd

Remember “detention” in high school? Looking back, it doesn’t sound too bad – at least not when compared to what ICE calls “detention.” Today’s “detention center” is a holding tank for immigrants until deportation, but ICE is having a hard time deporting immigrants because they are filing habeas petitions and refusing to self-deport. The result is that over 73,000 men, women and children are incarcerated and more are arrested every day. The Trump Administration has proposed opening dozens of new centers and adding space for 30,000 more people. 

One of the nation’s largest centers is the Northwest ICE Processing Center (NWIPC) in Tacoma, Washington. It can hold 1,575 people and is the only center in Washington, Oregon and Idaho. The detainees come from practically every state, so few are near enough to family to have visitors. I found a non-profit in Tacoma called Advocates for Immigrants in Detention (AIDNW) that organizes volunteer visits and greets ex-detainees. After doing a security check, AIDNW arranged for me meet detainees every other week. The goal of the visits is to diminish the boredom and claustrophobia of being enclosed indefinitely in a windowless building and possibly to form a link with the family.

It has been a heart-warming and disturbing experience to visit detainees. Since the early 1980s, I’ve worked with refugees in Asia, Europe, the U.S. and Latin America but I wasn’t prepared for the U.S. detention system. The first immigration processing centers, Ellis Island and Angel Island, seem almost quaint when compared to today’s version that has become the largest incarceration system in the world. Guantanamo Bay is managed by the federal government, but most ICE prisons are run by private companies like GEO Group and Core Civic.

Partisan wrangling in Congress has blocked immigration reform for almost 40 years, so the population of undocumented immigrants keeps rising. Capitalism thrives on cheap, non-union labor, so employers rely on dependable, hard-working immigrants. Immigration reform will take place – eventually – and a bi-partisan bill will pass if it “controls the border” while welcoming immigrants who’ve paid their rent, taxes and utilities and have no criminal record. 

In fact, this is exactly what President Reagan supported, and such a law was passed by Congress. In 1986, touting immigrants’ value to the economy, President Reagan signed a bill at the Statue of Liberty creating a legal path for almost three million undocumented immigrants. “Illegal immigrants… have become productive members of our society and are a basic part of our work force,” he said. “Those who have established equities in the United States should be recognized and accorded legal status… We draw our people… from every country… and by doing so we renew and enrich our nation.”

In response to the new law, the Catholic Diocese of NC asked me to set up an Immigration Counseling Center in Raleigh. I recruited a retired judge, and we helped dozens of immigrants get on a path to citizenship. In the late 1980s, when thousands of Haitians arrived in North Carolina as migrant workers, I obtained federal, state and private grants to set up a job training and literacy program called the Farmworker School. Within a few years, hundreds of Haitians gained the English-language skills to leave the semi-slavery of migrant labor. 

Five years ago, in Reynosa, Mexico, I filled out over 500 “temporary parole status” (TPS) applications for migrants who then crossed legally into McAllen, TX. Later, in El Paso, I worked at Annunciation House, a shelter for thousands who crossed legally from Juarez. And, after the U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan, I worked with a legal team at Holloman Air Force Base in NM helping former Afghan soldiers and their families fill out green card applications. 

Working with immigrants and living overseas changed how I see myself and our nation. I believe that immigrants breathe life into our country with their personalities, language, food, culture, kindness and hard work; they bring faith and hope to a nation that needs both. They’ve made me realize I am an international citizen who has brothers and sisters around the world, some of whom have chosen to live and work in the United States. 

In criminal law, a defendant usually has a right to an attorney, but this is not true in immigration law. An immigrant detainee has to become a jailhouse lawyer, find pro bono help or pay for an attorney. Due to firings of judges by Trump, immigration courts are understaffed and there is a shortage of affordable immigration attorneys, so most detainees are stuck in detention for months or years without assistance. Because detention is indefinite and hearings are not guaranteed, you might think that detainees would choose to self-deport, but most refuse. Juan (see below) is one of thousands who have spent much of their lives living in the U.S., so they have no desire to return to a country they barely know. 

I asked immigration attorney Tony Hom to fill me in on asylum and he wrote that, “detainees may apply for political asylum within one year of their entry into the U.S., but often migrants on day of entry apply immediately for asylum.” In 2025, the Trump Administration instituted a total ban on reviewing asylum applications, but it was partially lifted in March 2026, though it remains in effect for 40 countries. 

Except for pastors and chaplains, few outsiders are allowed inside the detention centers. We know that forty-six people have died since Trump was re-elected, including 36 among who were detained three months or less. There are countless lawsuits alleging unsanitary conditions, and, for some, the only way to get medical care is to go on a hunger strike (more below). Few detention centers have classes or any kind of avocational activities, so boredom is a major problem. A useful intervention would be English classes so detainees could communicate better with staff, talk with a lawyer and meet English-speaking visitors.

The few men and women who are released step through the chain link security doors without warm clothes and sometimes without phones, papers and money. Fortunately, they are greeted by teams of volunteers who wrap them with parkas, offer hot drinks and help them return home. 

Before entering the NW Detention Center, I feared I’d get claustrophobia inside the windowless cellblock. Instead, I’ve met fellow humans who are teaching me about tenacity and love. I am amazed that, even when separated by bulletproof glass, friendship travels easily between us. The first detainee I met was 35-year-old with bright eyes, a beautiful smile, inner confidence and a dry sense of humor. He told me that, after over a year of incarceration, he finally had a visitor. 

I am fortunate to be that person.

I parked in front of a beige warehouse surrounded by concertina wire and railroad tracks. I entered the visitor center, put my items in a locker and filled out a form for Geo Group, the company that runs the prison. I was “wanded” for contraband and took a seat in the waiting room. A Vietnamese woman from Ho Chi Minh City told me she was waiting to visit her husband. A lawyer with a computer and briefcase said the Department of Justice had made it almost impossible to get a bond hearing. 

Then a guard called out the detainee’s name, instructed me to open a steel door, go down a white hall, turn right and look for cell 1. The door slammed behind me, and I walked alone into the windowless cellblock. Panic crawled up my throat. I turned a corner and found myself in a tiny booth with bulletproof glass separating me from a man clutching a phone. I grabbed the old-timey black receiver. 

“Hi. I’m Tito Craige from Seattle. Glad to meet you. English or Spanish?”

“Either one. Thanks for visiting.”

***

At various detention centers around the United States, I have spoken with detainees and ex-detainees. Here are a few of their comments:  

“Detention will break you.” 

“Some people get sick and refuse to eat until they get medical attention.”

“I wasn’t prepared for detention, but I’m stronger now and I survived. Some don’t.”

“If people lose at their court hearing, they start to look lifeless.”

“The worst places for food and safety are Texas and Mississippi.”

“When I refused to self-deport, an official hit me with his fist on the back of my head.”

“I got a commissary donation that was more than I needed, so I gave it away to people who needed vitamins and skin cream.”

“This is how I live: I focus on gratitude, repentance and patience.”

“Now that I am out of detention, I love seeing nature again.” 

In drizzling rain, I walked back to my car and thought about how the detention centers of 2026 are similar to the Japanese internment camps of WWII. 

What are ways to get involved?

1. Oppose the acquisition of buildings for ICE detention. See: https://www.reuters.com/world/us/republican-senator-opposes-planned-ice-detention-center-mississippi-2026-02-04/
2. Pass laws that forbid the use of land for ICE facilities. See: https://www.urban.org/urban-wire/what-happens-when-ice-detention-facilities-conflict-land-use-rules-designed-promote#:~:text=Zoning%20for%20adequate%20services%20and,demands%20of%20a%20detention%20center
3. Require that detention centers allow visits by public officials. See: https://americanoversight.org/members-of-congress-ask-for-emergency-court-intervention-to-restore-congressional-oversight-in-ice-detention-facilities/#:~:text=More%20than%20a%20dozen%20members,and%20violence%20inside%20detention%20centers
4. Pass laws so immigrants can obtain legal representation. See: https://www.aila.org/blog/legal-representation-for-immigrants-protects-their-
5. Support an organization that assists and advocates for immigrants.
   • https://www.dhhmn.com (collects and distributes food to shut-ins, advocates for immigrants in Minneapolis)
   • https://aidnw.org (organizes visits to the detention center in Tacoma and supports those who are released)
   • https://waisn.org/event/accompaniment-program-training-may/ (trains volunteers to respond to ICE, accompanies immigrants, educates the public)
   • https://www.jewishcoalition.org (advocates for and accompanies immigrants)
6. Read about immigrant deaths in detention. See: https://www.nytimes.com/2026/03/29/us/ice-detention-deaths-immigrants.html