A new report said officials at the Northwest Immigration and Customs Enforcement Processing Center in Tacoma have not been following legal processes for investigating claims of sexual abuse and assault.

The research from the University of Washington Center for Human Rights showed the new seven-month contract between ICE and GEO Group lowers the standards for treatment of detainees.

Angelina Godoy, director of the center and co-author of the report, said the facility is not living up to the lowered bar set by its new contract.

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"It's not that the previous standards were particularly effective, but nonetheless, the idea to scrap those standards altogether is really worrisome," Godoy explained. "We feel it's really important for people to be aware of the depth of violence that is indeed happening within that facility."

Godoy reported more than 6,000 documents and many hours of video showed ICE repeatedly ignored evidence of abuse, failed to incorporate preventive measures required by federal law and failed to report crimes to law enforcement. ICE said it has a "zero tolerance" policy for any form of sexual abuse.

Godoy pointed out federal law mandates rigorous investigation into reports of sexual abuse in detention facilities but she stressed the new contract between ICE and GEO Group states when local laws demand higher standards than what ICE wants to see at the national level, then facility operators should default to the lower standards.

"That's the direct opposite of what the previous contract said, which said that if there's a conflict between federal and state law, the higher standard applies," Godoy emphasized.

The new contract is described as a "bridge" and only applies for seven months, ending in October.

Governor Bob Ferguson and Attorney General Nick Brown are seeking a court order to force the facility to allow the Department of Health to investigate the more than 3,500 complaints from detainees about conditions in the facility.