Immigration officials say man who escaped Tacoma detention center captured in Oregon
A man who reportedly escaped from the federal immigration detention center on the Tideflats has been caught in another state, according to law enforcement.
In a post Saturday on X, the Seattle office for U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement announced that Alvaro Flores-Barboza, 24, had been arrested and is currently detained by local authorities in Oregon.
ICE reported that the man is from Venezuela and escaped from the Northwest ICE Processing Center in Tacoma on March 26.
KOIN-TV, a Portland-based CBS affiliate, reported that Flores-Barboza was arrested early Saturday in Beaverton, Oregon. KOIN also reported that Flores-Barboza was previously arrested in the Portland area in 2024 and convicted of reckless driving and felony use of a weapon.
The facility at 1623 E. J St. in Tacoma has a capacity for 1,575 detainees. It holds people who are suspected of being in the country illegally or awaiting deportation.
On Wednesday, the Tacoma Police Department responded to the detention center after the facility reported that someone in custody escaped, according to a police spokesperson.
Officers responded to assist in conducting an area check, but no one was found. The spokesperson said they were called again about an hour later by someone from the facility to check the area of a Pilot Express gas station on Puyallup Avenue. Again, no one was located.
Neither Immigration officials nor a representative of GEO Group, the federal contractor that runs the facility, independently confirmed news of the escape at the time.
Sgt. John Correa with Tacoma Police Department told The News Tribune on Saturday in response to questions that the department had no information on how the man escaped or whether this was the first such incident.
Flores-Barboza now faces removal from the U.S., according to ICE. No further details were immediately available.
Previous reporting from The News Tribune contributed to this article.
This story was originally published March 29, 2025 at 5:01 PM.
