California ICE detention facility fills up with people who have no criminal history
AI-generated summary reviewed by our newsroom.
- Kern County ICE centers see population surge, mostly from noncriminal detainees.
- Mesa Verde fills 400-bed capacity after court lifts imposed detainee population cap.
- Federal contract with CoreCivic signals possible expansion of ICE beds in the region.
Two U.S. Customs and Immigration Enforcement detention centers in the San Joaquin Valley have experienced a surge in population growth as the Trump administration calls for 3,000 arrests per day.
The majority of new detainees at one Kern County facility in McFarland are immigrants with no criminal convictions, according to the latest data by ICE, mirroring a nationwide trend.
Meanwhile, another detention facility in Bakersfield is at capacity, according to immigrant advocates.
“We heard that officers going around into the dorms offering people $1,000 to self-deport and some people have taken it,” said Oliver Ma, immigrants rights legal fellow with the ACLU of Southern California.
ICE could be expanding its presence in Kern County as negotiations are under way to open what could be the largest detention center in the state at the site of a former state prison.
A detainee at the Mesa Verde ICE Processing Center in Bakersfield said many new detainees at the facility have no criminal record.
“There are people from all walks of society that are in here right now,” Jonathan Montes, a 32-year-old father from Avenal who was born in Mexico, told The Bee. He said that the Trump administration’s claims of targeting the worst criminal offenders are “not true.”
“There’s people with medical conditions, older gentlemen that made a mistake two decades ago,” he said. “They’re not being provided for.”
ICE detention statistics in Kern County
As of June 23, Geo Group’s Golden State Annex in McFarland has 581 detainees, a space designed to hold up to 700 people.
This represents 235 more detainees than last fiscal year. A majority of these new detainees, or 63%, are considered “noncriminal,” meaning they have no criminal record.
Another Kern County facility, the 400-bed Mesa Verde ICE Processing Center, is seeing an influx of detainees after a court-ordered population cap was lifted on June 9.
“The cap was lifted in June of this year, and almost immediately they started filling it up completely,” Ma of the ACLU said.
A women’s dorm is included in the expanded capacity at Mesa Verde, Ma said.
The latest available data from ICE shows the facility had about 60 detainees as of June 23. But the population has grown exponentially since then.
“Our estimate is that is completely filled now to its full capacity of around 400 people,” Ma said.
Geo Group spokesperson Christopher Ferreira referred The Bee to ICE for comment. ICE did not respond to requests for comment.
Delayed medical care for hand fracture
In an interview with The Bee, Montes said he was picked up after serving time in prison. He was detained at Golden State Annex for about a year and nine months before being transferred to Mesa Verde about three months ago. Last year, he participated in a hunger strike over conditions at Golden State Annex.
Montes said the influx of detainees is having a noticeable impact at mealtime, which typically consists of rice and beans and a rotating menu of five other items.
“With this increase of population, we have seen that the portions start to get smaller. The quality is not as good,” he said.
Montes said detainees have access to basic hygiene needs like showers, toothbrushes, shampoo and razors, but he’s occasionally heard about toilet paper running low.
A few months ago, Montes said he fractured his hand while at Golden State Annex. He put in a request for medical service and was seen 10 days later.
“When I was telling them about the pain in my hand, they’re like ‘oh no, it’s fine,’” he said.
But after insisting, medical staff scheduled an X-Ray appointment for Montes. However, the day his X-Ray appointment was scheduled was the day he was transferred to the other detention facility, Mesa Verde. So, he had to start the medical process all over again.
By the time Montes was able to go to an outside hospital, doctors told him he indeed had a fractured hand that should have been in a cast.
“If you’re in extreme pain, that’s probably the only time that they’ll move quickly,” he said.
More ICE beds coming to Kern County?
Golden State Annex and Mesa Verde are two of California’s six privately-operated ICE detention centers, both of which are located in Kern County.
A seventh facility under contract but not in use by ICE is also located in Kern County. The Central Valley Annex in McFarland is currently used by the U.S. Marshals Service. Records obtained by ACLU show that the Geo Group submitted a proposal to use the McFarland facility to expand its available detention space in Kern County.
McFarland Mayor Saul Ayon said he hasn’t noticed any major changes with the increased number of people in detention. He tours Golden State Annex on an annual basis — most recently about two months ago — and said the facility is “exceptional.”
The Geo Group goes “above and beyond” to provide cleanliness, medical and mental health resources.
“It’s important for me,” he said. “I want to make sure detainees are treated fairly.”
Ayon said he was not aware of plans for another ICE detention center in his city. “We haven’t heard anything from Geo Group,” he said.
Meanwhile, the federal government is currently negotiating a long-term agreement with CoreCivic, a Tenessee-based private prison operator, to convert a 2,560-bed former state prison in California City into a detention center.
It’s unclear when the “California City Immigration Processing Center” could be operational but CoreCivic has started hiring after receiving an initial $10 million dollar federal contract.
This story was originally published July 16, 2025 at 7:00 AM with the headline "California ICE detention facility fills up with people who have no criminal history."
