Prison corp GEO suffers major defeat on eve of court hearing on AB 32

Contact: Arianna Rosales, ILRC, arosales@ilrc.org, (415) 321-8511

Prison corp GEO suffers major defeat on eve of court hearing on AB 32

Advocates who filed amicus brief to address court

If not for attempts to obstruct law banning for-profit prisons,

Most ICE detention centers in CA would have closed prior to pandemic

What: Zoom press conference immediately prior to federal district court hearing on lawsuits filed by troubled prison corp. GEO Group and the Trump admin. against California’s AB 32, which bans for-profit prisons and detention centers in the state. Advocates will denounce an “illicit scheme” by ICE and prison corporations to evade accountability, highlight the strong constitutional case for AB 32, and call out the COVID-19 crisis in detention. 

At Thursday’s hearing, Representatives of Immigrant Defense Advocates and Immigrant Legal Defense will address GEO's 'Unclean Hands' before the court, detailing GEO's history of circumventing state and federal laws in its pursuit of profit, and wielding undue influence over local cities in its bid to expand detention and prolong contracts. 

The federal hearing comes after GEO suffered a major defeat Tuesday in a related lawsuit in front of the Eastern District Court. Following an April decision by the city of McFarland to approve GEO’s request to expand immigration detention by 350% in Kern County, immigrant advocacy groups filed a lawsuit against the city for violating California state law, SB 29. On July 14, the federal judge in that case approved a Temporary Restraining Order, temporarily prohibiting the City of McFarland and GEO from moving forward with the expansion. 

When: Thursday, July 16

  • 8:15 AM: Zoom press conference. 

  • 9:00 AM: Federal district court hearing begins

  • TBA: Facebook live reportback, to be hosted here. Speakers TBA. 

Who:  

  • 8:15 AM speakers -- Alfred Aboya, Ambassador Advocate for Detainees for Cameroon American Council; Amber Akemi Piatt, Human Impact Partners; Nikki Marquez, Immigrant Legal Resource Center; Charles Joseph, community leader formerly detained at Mesa Verde; Humberto, community leader formally detained at Adelanto; Mrs. Moreno mother of daughter currently in Otay

Background: Pushed by a grassroots movement and signed by Gov. Newsom in October 2019, AB 32 went into effect on January 1. Since contracts for three of the four private ICE detention centers in the state were set to expire in March 2020, the facilities would have closed prior to the onset of COVID-19. Community organizing against ICE and the immigration detention industry has led to important wins in the state.

But just days before AB 32 went into effect, ICE inked new contracts to keep the California detention centers open and expand detention into facilities which California had been leasing from one of the corporations, The GEO group. Days later, GEO filed a lawsuit, followed by the Trump administration. The new contracts have drawn condemnation from Members of Congress and procurement law experts, and advocates. Community groups have denounced that prison companies are profiting at the expense of community well-being and resources.

ICE systematically deprives thousands of immigrants of liberty each day, with medical neglect, in-custody deaths, and abuses rampant even prior to COVID-19. In detention, like other forms of incarceration, physical distancing is impossible. 

The spread of COVID-19 in prisons and detention centers disproportionately hurts Black immigrants and immigrants of color. Immigrants at Mesa Verde, including Black immigrants, led a hunger strike in solidarity with #BlackLivesMatter and also expressed support for a hunger strike at San Quentin state prison. Meanwhile, the Cameroon American Council continues to seek justice for Cameroonian Nebane Abienwi, who died at Otay Mesa in October amid medical neglect. Cameroonians make up a significant part of those detained at Otay Mesa and Adelanto, and face anti-Blackness across the immigration spectrum.

Advocates have long argued that detention is abusive and unnecessary, and that community-based alternatives are effective and life saving. In California, legislation passed in 2017 “froze” government run-ICE detention. Only one such facility remains. Advocates view the passage of AB 32 as one step toward a larger vision of a world without cages, and are backing criminal justice groups’ calls for broad decarceration. 

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