Northwest ICE Processing Center

A well-known farm labor organizer in Washington’s Skagit Valley has decided to give up his deportation fight for now and return to Mexico.

Lewelyn Dixon, her family and a growing community of supporters received good news Thursday afternoon — Dixon would be released from the Northwest ICE Processing Center in Tacoma.

The GEO Group, the operator of a private detention center in Tacoma, has filed a lawsuit against Washington opposing new legislation that would regulate private detention facilities in the state. With the signing of House Bill 1470 into law in May, the Washington State Department of Health was given the authority to do unannounced inspections of private detention facilities and establish standards regarding health and safety for these facilities.

Maria Leónides Pérez’s son, Santiago Ortuno Pérez, has been detained in the Northwest ICE Processing Center, also known as the Northwest Detention Center, in Tacoma for a little more than three years.During his time in detention, Ortuno Pérez has spent at least 10 months in segregation from the general population. He said he’s there now, and has been for 51 days, according to a call between him and Maru Mora-Villalpando, of immigrant advocacy group La Resistenica, on Jan. 5.