California’s largest ICE detention facility has 500 detainees. ‘It’s total chaos’
AI-generated summary reviewed by our newsroom.
- CoreCivic opened a 2,560-bed detention center without city permits or hearings.
- Advocates reported unsafe conditions, medication delays and unprepared staff.
- City officials face criticism for failing to enforce licensing and planning laws
California’s largest immigration detention center has already filled up with 500 detainees since it quietly opened two weeks ago, according to a California City official.
Immigration advocates and lawyers say Tennessee-based private prison operator CoreCivic flouted state laws and California City municipal code in its rapid pursuit to open the 70-acre detention center. The remote, Antelope Valley facility in eastern Kern County began receiving detainees at the 2,560-bed facility in late August though California City has yet to approve CoreCivic’s operating permits.
Community groups also raised concerns about living conditions in the facility and described a chaotic opening with unexpected transfers from other Kern County detention facilities and delays in fulfilling detainees’ medication.
The facility’s speedy opening reflects the federal government’s furious push for mass deportations and a record-level number of people in ICE detention. Local immigration advocates intensely oppose the facility and said it would lead to more community arrests. They also accuse California City officials of not being transparent about the site’s reopening process.
California City Mayor Marquette Hawkins has repeatedly said there isn’t much the city can do to stop the project. The project is also expected to bring hundreds of jobs and millions of dollars in revenue to the city.
Hawkins confirmed the city’s permitting process is not yet complete. He said he didn’t find out the CoreCivic facility had opened until he received word from an immigration lawyer.
“The fact that they [CoreCivic] opened — that’s on them,” Hawkins said of the pending permits.
He toured the California City Immigration Processing Center on Tuesday morning with representatives from CoreCivic and Immigration and Customs Enforcement. He confirmed that there were 506 detainees as of his Sept. 9 visit.
“We walked around the facility, we looked at services provided,” he said.
Ryan Gustin, senior director of public affairs for CoreCivic, said in a statement “we take seriously our obligation to adhere to all applicable federal standards in all our federally contracted facilities, including our California City Correctional Facility (CCCF).”
“All our facilities operate with a significant amount of oversight and accountability, including being monitored by federal officials on a daily basis, to ensure an appropriate standard of living and care for every individual,” he said.
The site has operated as a detention facility beginning in 1999 and previously housed ICE detainees as well as inmates from the United States Marshals Service, Gustin of CoreCivic said.
Conditions at California City ICE detention center
Hawkins told The Bee he walked around the facility and observed detainees as well as the medical, dental, psychiatric and legal services available.
“From what I saw,” Hawkins said, “the conditions look humane.”
Community groups painted a different picture.
Jeannie Parent, a coordinator with Kern Welcoming and Extending Solidarity to Immigrants, said at a Sept. 9 California City council meeting that several detainees at the California City ICE detention center have reported poor living conditions. Parent said many detainees at Mesa Verde in Bakersfield or Golden State Annex in McFarland have been transferred to the California City facility.
“I’m getting multiple calls a day from guys inside,” she told The Bee in a follow-up interview.
She said that some transferred detainees had their personal hygiene products, such as shampoo and toothpaste, thrown away while others had not promptly received medication to treat their high blood pressure and psychiatric conditions. Parent also reported that detention center staff are working 16 to 18 hour shifts per day.
“It’s total chaos,” she said.
Healthcare is available 24-7, Gustin said, and all individuals have daily access to sign up for medical care, including mental health services. Individual prescription medications are either managed by CoreCivic health services team or the individuals themselves, depending on the type of medication, he said.
“Any delay in getting prescription medications due to transfers of individuals from other facilities has been resolved,” Gustin said.
Every individual is provided with clothing, toiletry kits (which include shampoo and toothpaste) and blankets when they arrive at the facility and staff will reissue supplies and clothing as needed, Gustin said.
As for concerns around the adequacy of staffing, he said staff received over six weeks of cumulative training before working within the facility.
“As is common in public service industries, such as corrections, staff do sometimes work more than eight hours when the need arises, but this is done in accordance with our government partners’ policies,” Gustin said.
City still reviewing CoreCivic application
The reopening of the ICE detention center fueled criticism that the city is not enforcing its own laws.
The reopening process has been muddied by a separate city problem: on July 11, two councilmembers quit in protest over allegations of racism, KGET reported. A third councilmember, Michael Hurles, had been absent for several weeks citing medical reasons.
Hawkins told The Bee that the council had been “blocked from getting information” because of the inability to establish quorum due to Hurles absence.
Gustin said CoreCivic “submitted all required information for the business license and continue to maintain open lines of communication with city officials.”
Rosa Lopez, a Kern County-based senior policy advocate with the American Civil Liberties Union of Southern California, accused the mayor of using the council’s recent turmoil as an excuse to withhold information and obscure the process.
“We hear the same excuse: ‘This is out of our hands. We have nothing that we could do. This is a federal contract,’” Lopez, a longtime Kern County resident, said during a Sept. 2 planning commission meeting.
Grisel Ruiz, a senior managing attorney with the Immigrant Legal Resource Center, said CoreCivic should have applied for a new conditional use permit in light of the nearly 10% increase in bedspace given its original permit was only for 2,304 beds.
She said the facility needs to comply with SB29. The state law requires two public meetings and an 180-day notice before a local government entity can approve a permit for a private prison corporation to run an immigration detention center.
“You can enforce your own municipal code,” Ruiz said.
Hurles said he reached out to the offices of Gov. Gavin Newsom, Attorney General Rob Bonta and Assemblymember Tom Lackey for guidance on whether or not CoreCivic can reopen. He said city officials made an effort to seek guidance from the state, but did not receive any responses.
“The silence is deafening,” Hurles said.
This story was originally published September 15, 2025 at 8:30 AM with the headline "California’s largest ICE detention facility has 500 detainees. ‘It’s total chaos’."
