“For dinner we were served ground turkey meat, but the meat was so badly spoiled that a very foul smell spread all throughout the dorm … others almost threw up when they found maggots in the meat.” This is how Carlos Hidalgo describes the quality of food he received while he was detained at the Adelanto Processing Center, an Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) detention center in California. Adelanto is owned and operated by private prison company Geo Group. Advocates and government inspectors have documented years of abuses at Adelanto, including retaliatory use of solitary confinement and medical neglect leading to death.
On October 11, California Governor Gavin Newsom signed legislation into law that would effectively ban the use of private prisons in the state. The law - bill AB32 - stipulates that current contracts with private detention centers for the purpose of immigration detention cannot be renewed. The bill builds on earlier legislation preventing California localities from renewing or expanding contracts with federal entities for the purposes of immigration detention. Prior to passage of AB32, ICE had announced its intent to double its detention capacity in California. AB32 goes into effect in January 2020, meaning the private immigration prisons whose contracts expire in 2020, including Adelanto, will close. That is - if the law is respected.
A mere five days after Governor Newsom signed AB32 into law, ICE issued a series of solicitations for four privately operated immigration detention centers in California, representing a total capacity of 6,750 beds. At present, approximately 4,000 immigrants are detained in privately operated facilities in the state. Once awarded, these contracts would begin on December 20, for an initial five year period, with the option of two five year renewals. If entered into force, these contracts would effectively circumvent California state law, enable facilities with long histories of abuse to remain open, and funnel millions of taxpayer dollars to private prison companies.
On November 14, Senator Kamala Harris and Representatives Zoe Lofgren and Jerry Nadler released an open letter to Acting Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) Secretary Chad Wolf and and Acting Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Director Matthew T. Albence expressing concern with lack of transparency and potential violations of federal procurement regulations in ICE’s recent solicitations in California. The letter echoed similar concerns held by advocates, including my organization, Freedom for Immigrants, that the solicitation is an attempt to circumvent California state law, to the benefit of a small grouping of companies.
According to the parameters of the solicitation, qualified bids must be “turn key ready,” meaning ICE will not consider bids which require new construction. This results in an apparent advantage to Geo Group, CoreCivic, and Management Training Corporation (MTC), private prison companies who already own and operate immigrant detention facilities in California. Lawmakers also expressed concern that interested bidders were given less than two weeks to respond and that ICE failed to make any changes to the solicitation in response to suggested modifications from industry partners regarding ways to reduce costs of projected renovations.
These concerns are even more troubling when considering recent ICE contract awards in California. In March 2019, ICE bypassed the competitive bid process and awarded the Geo Group a sole-source, one-year contract to continue operating the Adelanto facility. ICE’s decision to award this contract followed direct pressure from Geo Group CEO George Zoley to the Adelanto city council. According to a city council member, Zoley urged the city to exit a prior contract with the company, in order to enable Geo Group to contract directly with ICE.
Critically, California lawmakers questioned whether ICE has the legal authority to enter into multi-year contracts, as the agency’s Fiscal Year 2020 budget has not been negotiated. ICE is currently operating under a continuing spending resolution, and its funds are appropriated only until November 21. By law, the agency should be operating under funding levels authorized for Fiscal Year 2019 - and corresponding levels of detention - not expanding its detention apparatus.
California is not the only area in which ICE has used direct and opaque contracting with private prison companies to circumvent local policies. In June 2018, the Williamson County Commissioners Court voted to exit a contract with ICE to operate the T. Don Hutto detention center in Taylor, Texas. This decision followed months of pressure from advocates and community groups to shut down the facility in response to a litany of abuse allegations, including sexual assault. In ending the contract, Williamson County also cut ties with CoreCivic, which the county had sub-contracted to operate the Hutto facility. In response, ICE issued a request for information that closely matched the Hutto facility, ultimately awarding a non-competitive, short-term contract to CoreCivic. The facility remains open.
As more localities around the country choose to exit their agreements with ICE for the purposes of immigration detention, the agency will increasingly be forced to turn to direct contracting with private prison companies. If California is able to successfully enforce AB32, it will be the first state to have effectively ended immigration detention within its borders, providing a blueprint for other states. The amount of resources ICE is investing in to undermine AB32 via hasty, non-transparent, and legally dubious contracting shows that the agency understands the threat the law poses to its national detention apparatus.
California is done with detention, and a growing number of states and localities are following its example. However, the fight to end immigration detention cannot be won at the state level. Congress must stand with California and ensure meaningful oversight and accountability for ICE’s contracting practices. It is past time to shine a light on the opaque and corrupt contracting mechanisms enabling immigration detention.
Sarah Gardiner is Policy Director at Freedom for Immigrants. Carlos Hidalgo is an advocate and member of Freedom for Immigrants’ Leadership Council.