Supreme Court to review whether Washington can regulate private ICE facility

Washington’s effort to set health-and-safety requirements for a private immigration detention-processing facility has landed back in the U.S. Supreme Court.

On July 10, 2026, The GEO Group, Inc. filed a petition for a writ of certiorari in GEO Group v. Ferguson (No. 26-71). The Supreme Court docketed the case on July 16, 2026, and the federal government’s response is due August 17, 2026. The Supreme Court has not agreed to hear the case.

What GEO is asking the Supreme Court to review

In its filing, GEO frames the dispute as a federalism and Supremacy Clause question: whether a state can enact a law that “micromanages” the details of how a federal contractor provides services at a federal detention facility—while exempting the state’s own detention facilities from the same requirements.

GEO says it provides services under contract with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement at the Northwest ICE Processing Center in Tacoma, Washington.

Sources

• U.S. Supreme Court docket (GEO Group v. Ferguson, No. 26-71) — procedural history and deadlines