‘Every advocate’s nightmare’: Inside ICE’s strategy to sidestep local oversight laws
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- Changes to detention standards, facility contracts and a move by the federal government toward buying up privately owned facilities are all part of a strategy to get around state and local oversight laws.
asserted
Changes → sidestep → laws
Though the companies continue to run the centers holding thousands of detainees, federal ownership could help the companies in case of legal action.
uncertain
ownership → continue → action
- ICE is funding the purchases with $45 billion approved by Congress last year for detention, enough for the agency to meet the administration’s goal of 100,000 detention beds.
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agency → fund → beds
Immigration and Customs Enforcement is taking more and more steps to avoid oversight by local and state authorities of immigration detention centers amid growing complaints alleging unsanitary and unsafe conditions at the facilities.
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Immigration → take → facilities
The efforts to sidestep laws in California and elsewhere take many forms.
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efforts → sidestep → forms
In some instances, contracts have been changed to declare that the centers are simply not subject to certain local or state laws.
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centers → change → laws
In other instances, ICE has purchased facilities owned and operated by private companies.
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ICE → purchase → companies
Though the companies continue to run the centers holding thousands of detainees, federal ownership could aid their defense in the event of legal action.
uncertain
ownership → continue → action
George Zoley, the chief executive of GEO Group, which contracts with ICE to run detention centers in California and across the country, said as much to company shareholders this year.
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which → contract → shareholders
In an earnings call in May, he said that ownership bolsters the facilities’ protection from “unwarranted litigation” around medical care and other detention conditions.
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ownership → say → care
A settlement announced this week now affirms that private immigrant detention facilities are subject to California’s workplace safety and health requirements.
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facilities → announce → requirements
The federal ownership strategy has become particularly crucial, he said, “as some blue states are considering more active involvement in oversight of facilities.”
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states → become → facilities
Local oversight has taken on greater significance since the Trump administration hollowed out federal offices that were charged with investigating civil rights and safety issues at detention centers and began restricting visits by members of Congress.
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that → take → Congress
A recent analysis by the Project on Government Oversight found detention center inspections under the second Trump administration have increasingly resulted in “superior” grades.
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inspections → find → grades
Eunice Cho, a former American Civil Liberties Union attorney and an expert in immigration detention, called ICE’s efforts a “naked strategy” to evade local scrutiny of detention centers.
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Cho → call → centers
“This is a huge sea change in the way that immigration detention is expanding and hardening in the United States,” she said, adding that “this was every advocate’s nightmare scenario.”
In California, state leaders once attempted to shut down privately run detention centers and, after losing, resorted instead to proposing other oversight measures.
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leaders → expand → measures
California is home to eight ICE detention centers with a combined capacity of nearly 9,000 people.
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California → combine → people
State laws allow monitoring and investigation of the facilities by the California Department of Justice and local health authorities.
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laws → allow → Justice
A 2021 law allows people to sue for damages when private detention center operators fail to follow the care standards laid out in their contracts.
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operators → allow → contracts
Starting in January, another law will require independent medical investigations into deaths in law enforcement custody, including in immigrant detention facilities.
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law → start → facilities
Several bills are being considered by the California Legislature that would further regulate detention centers.
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that → consider → centers
Among them are bills that would authorize the California attorney general to bring civil action and impose fines to protect detainees’ constitutional rights and require the disclosure of public records, such as 911 calls from the facilities.
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that → authorize → facilities
Recent attempts to limit California’s oversight actions haven’t been successful.
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attempts → limit → actions
CoreCivic turned San Diego health inspectors away from the Otay Mesa Detention Center in February, but after legal action the visit took place in June.
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visit → turn → June
Another oversight battle concerns the rights of detainees who work at a facility, perhaps as a janitor, for $1 per day.
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who → concern → day
GEO Group recently settled with California regulators after a years-long fight over workplace health and safety violations.
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Group → settle → violations
The settlement affirmed that immigrants who perform work while detained are considered employees.
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who → affirm → work
Weeks earlier, ICE released new detention standards in June declaring that detainees who participate in the voluntary work program aren’t employees “and are not entitled to wages or benefits under applicable wage laws or labor regulations.”
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who → release → laws
A settlement announced this week now affirms that private immigrant detention facilities are subject to California’s workplace safety and health requirements.
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facilities → announce → requirements
Because the new standards will take effect as contracts are established or modified, the rules don’t yet apply to existing facilities in California, though they were implemented at a new facility in Minnesota.
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they → take → Minnesota
An ICE spokesperson did not respond to questions but said the agency consulted with a variety of stakeholders, including facility operators, while revising its standards.
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agency → respond → standards
The spokesperson, who did not provide their name in an emailed statement, said the agency consistently looks for ways to improve detention facilities to ensure they provide detainees the best care.
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they → provide → care
“ICE is regularly audited and inspected by external agencies to ensure that all ICE facilities comply with performance-based national detention standards,” the spokesperson wrote, adding that “ICE has higher detention standards than most U.S. prisons that hold actual U.S. citizens.”
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that → audit → citizens
An oversight battle involving changes to contracts is also playing out in other states.
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battle → involve → states
For the last three years, GEO Group has blocked Washington health officials from inspecting the Northwest ICE Processing Center near Seattle despite 3,500 complaints from detainees about black mold, unsafe drinking water and substandard medical care.
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Group → block → mold
A previous contract for the facility stated that services must comply with “federal, state and local laws and standards.
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services → state → laws
Should a conflict exist between any of these standards, the most stringent shall apply.”
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stringent → exist → standards
But in March, ICE and GEO Group established a new contract that says the opposite — that “applicable or more stringent state or local laws or regulations shall not apply.”
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laws → establish → opposite
A federal district judge, rejecting that contract provision, ruled last month that GEO Group must let health inspectors in, writing that “GEO’s new contract cannot preempt state law, even if it purports to.”
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it → reject → law
That decision is now paused under appeal.
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decision → pause → appeal
…and 29 more, not listed.
