Editor’s Note: La Resistencia originally published the following Immediate Release on Monday, March 31, 2025.
Contact: Rufina Reyes (253) 376-1238
For Immediate Release
Mickey Shin (SEIU Local 925)
La Resistencia Rallies Washington State Civil Society to Demand Release of ALL Immigrants at Infamous Tacoma Detention Center
After high-profile detentions in Washington state, La Resistencia mobilized civil society groups to demand dignity and freedom for 1,500 detained migrants at Northwest Detention Center
Tacoma, WA- La Resistencia, an immigrant-led organization that has pushed for the permanent closing of Northwest Detention Center (NWDC) for the last 11 years, organized a rally featuring over 100 people from various civil society sectors to demand freedom for all detained migrants at the facility.
Northwest Detention Center has been the focus of recent attention due to the arrest of Alfredo “Lelo” Juarez, a farmworker activist, and Lewlyn Dixon, a lab technician at the University of Washington and member of SEIU Local 925. However, NWDC has long been breeding ground for human rights violations – including the repression of hunger strikers, suicide attempts, and deaths at the facility.
Speakers at the rally – including Dixon’s own family – pushed back against calls to focus exclusively on the suffering of union members or legal residents, instead demanding the permanent shut down of the facility and the freedom of all those detained on the inside.
Cases highlighted by La Resistencia, yet ignored by mainstream media, include those of Steven Portillo, who has repeatedly rang the alarms about the facility’s public health failures; Javon Gordon; and Rudy Mancilla Espinoza, a Salvadoran national who has been incarcerated for more than ten years.
The rally caught the attention of GEO Group – the private profiteers who operate NWDC – who shut down access to the facility even for visitors before and during the rally. Furthermore, GEO ordered its workers to use the back entrance of the facility instead of their regular main entrance gate, with a confusing and consistent traffic that made protesters have to avoid moving vehicles – a situation that was placed under control by a previously-appointed security team.
One migrant detained on the inside said during a video call with La Resistencia during the rally, that the large public display of support brought tears inside the detention facility. On the outside, the crowds chanted, “GEO, quit your job!” in the presence of the facility’s employees, who often responded by shaking their head from side to side.
Organizations who joined the call to action include SEIU Local 925, Pierce County Immigrant Alliance, Tanggol Migrante Washington Network, International Migrants Alliance, and many others.
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La Resistencia is a grassroots organization in Washington state led by undocumented people in solidarity with detainees at Northwest Detention Center, fighting for the closing of the facility and an end to all detentions and deportations
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