Mergensana Amar, a 40-year-old asylum seeker from the Siberian republic of Buryatia who entered the U.S. at San Ysidro, died by suicide in November 2018 after being held for nearly 11 months at the Northwest ICE Processing Center in Tacoma, Washington, operated by GEO Group under contract with ICE. A handwritten note he gave his attorney three weeks before his death described being stripped of his clothing and placed alone in a cold cell after staff found a rope in his cell, before being returned to his regular cell following a session with a psychologist. His death is cited among more than 3,500 complaints filed with the Washington State Department of Health alleging dangerous conditions, including abuse, unsanitary and worm-infested food, prolonged isolation, medical neglect, and inadequate mental health care at the facility, and has drawn attention from the governor, members of Congress and international media. GEO Group has repeatedly refused to admit state inspectors despite the volume of complaints, and federal reports cited by Human Rights Watch show 74 deaths in immigration detention facilities since 2010.