Plan to open California's largest immigration jail sparks outrage

Source: The Guardian

Wed 25 Jun 2025 18.13 EDT
Last modified on Wed 25 Jun 2025 21.44 EDT


Plans to open an enormous federal immigration processing center in a California desert community has sparked outrage among advocacy groups who argue it will come at a “long-term cost” and “fuel harm”. US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (Ice) has partnered with CoreCivic, a private prison contractor that operates several facilities in California, to transform a shuttered 2,500-bed prison in California City into the state’s largest immigrant detention center.

The site, built by CoreCivic in 1999 as a federal prison, operated as a state prison from 2013 to March 2024. This year, as Donald Trump’s administration has sought to dramatically increase detention capacity as part of its crackdown on immigration, the company has received $10m in initial funding as part of a six-month contract, the Los Angeles Times reported.

A new sign has been placed outside the facility and CoreCivic has listed two dozen jobs for the site on its website, including psychologists, nurses and maintenance workers.

The development has fueled concerned among some southern California residents and advocacy groups. This week, people packed a city council meeting to voice their feelings in California City, a remote desert community of 14,000 people with historically high unemployment and poverty rates and limited economic opportunities. The issue was not on the agenda, but people traveled from as far as Los Angeles to express opposition.

Read more: https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/jun/25/california-immigrant-detention-facility