Plans to open a massive 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.
The Dolores Huerta Foundation shared a letter with the council urging the community to “make its voice heard and refuse to be complicit in a system built on incarceration, dehumanization, and profit from suffering”.
“We urge you not to mistake short-term job offers for long-term economic health. California City deserves real investment–in housing, healthcare, education, and job training–not a facility that profits only when people are detained, dehumanized, and separated from their families,” said Camila Chávez, the executive director of the foundation.
“ICE detention centers don’t exist in isolation. Every bed built becomes justification for more raids, more deportations, and more broken families. Expanding detention in California City directly fuels that harm.”
Most people in attendance spoke in opposition to the project, KERO 23ABC Reportedalthough John Fischer, a California City resident, argued that the site had been previously used as an Ice facility and significantly boosted the local economy.
“What most people don’t know is the facility here started off as an Ice prison and it was very good for this town. It brought jobs to the economy. It brought other businesses into the economy,” he told the outlet. “Why do people support these criminal illegal aliens and allow them to remain here, costing us precious tax dollars?”
The city’s mayor, Marquette Hawkins, has told media that he recently toured the facility and emphasized the city’s desire to have oversight.
“From an economic standpoint, I’m told that it does have some benefits there,” he told the Bakersfield Californian. “However, we understand that 40% of our residents are Latino. We want to make sure there is fairness, there. We talked about oversight and my office having the ability to do that.”
Hawkins has encouraged people to continue sharing their perspectives on the facility at city council meetings.
