GEO Group’s Injunction to Halt State Oversight Comes Undone (1)

A preliminary injunction barring enforcement of a Washington state law meant to protect detainees held at GEO Group Inc.'s Northwest Immigration and Customs Enforcement Processing Center has been lifted by a federal appeals court.

The Ninth Circuit vacated the preliminary injunction on Tuesday after taking issue with the lower court’s application of the governmental immunity doctrine.

The doctrine—which generally shields the federal government from state laws that directly regulate or discriminate against it—either doesn’t apply or was analyzed incorrectly by the district court, the US Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit said.

NWIPC is a private, for-profit detention facility ...