California is trying to banish private immigration detention centers. ICE has other plans
California November 4 2019
U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement is rushing to secure new detention space in three California cities before the state bans for-profit prisons, including immigration detention facilities, on Jan. 1.
The agency is looking to lock in contracts for four privately operated facilities in San Francisco, Los Angeles and San Diego, totaling more than 5,000 beds.
The Department of Homeland Security posted a solicitation for bids on the Federal Business Opportunities website Oct. 16, five days after Gov. Gavin Newsom signed AB32, which bans the private facilities, into law. Bidders have until Monday to submit proposals. Contracts would begin Dec. 20 and last five years, with the possibility of two renewals.
The new detention facilities must be “turnkey ready” and provide housing, medical care, transportation, guard services, meals and “the day-to-day needs for ICE detainees,” ICE wrote in its solicitation. Proposals for new construction are prohibited.
Advocates and attorneys say it’s a clear tactic by ICE to circumvent AB32. There are more than 4,000 immigrants in private detention facilities across California.
“We see this as a coordinated attempt by ICE and private prisons to sidestep the laws that are in place and to continue detention,” said Hamid Yazdan Panah, an immigration attorney and the regional director for the Northern California Rapid Response & Immigrant Defense Network.
Yazdan Panah said several aspects of the agency’s solicitation raise red flags, including the length of the contract and the fact that bidders were only given two weeks to respond, compared to at least 30 days normally.
ICE said its legal staff is reviewing the new legislation, but declined to comment further. It’s the latest battle over the scope of the agency’s footprint in California, a state that has persistently denounced the Trump administration’s policies on immigration.
Authored by Assemblyman Rob Bonta, D-Alameda, AB32 will prohibit the state from entering into or renewing contracts with private prison companies after Jan. 1, unless it’s necessary to comply with a court-ordered population cap. Under the bill, private prisons would be phased out completely by 2028.
A private detention facility may continue its operations if it has a contract with a government agency that went into effect before Jan. 1. The law, however, prohibits extensions.
Bonta said several aspects of ICE’s solicitation appear to violate federal procurement law, calling it a “last-gasp” effort to profit off of detaining immigrants.
“They didn’t give enough publicity before the solicitation, the solicitation response is only 15 days, they’re asking for a turnkey operation and not entertaining any new construction, which means that it’s the existing operators only,” he said. “They’re basically just saying, ‘This is a fake, pretend solicitation, we’re just handing you extensions for up to 15 years.’”
“These are literally hundreds of millions of dollars in taxpayer money that are going to be committed in 15 days,” Bonta added.
Attorneys have previously accused ICE of misusing the government bidding process in order to continue — and expand — its operations as state officials try to clamp down on immigration enforcement. A report released in February by the state auditor also blamed local jurisdictions for not properly managing their contracts with corporations to ensure they comply with ICE detention standards.
The state has four privately run immigration detention centers: Mesa Verde ICE Processing Facility in Bakersfield, Adelanto ICE Processing Center near Los Angeles, Otay Mesa Detention Center in San Diego and the Imperial Regional Detention Facility in Calexico (Imperial County).
SB29, implemented in 2018, prohibits ICE from entering into or renewing contracts with local jurisdictions, which means the agency will not be able to use bed space in local jails once AB32 goes into effect.
ICE’s contracts to run Mesa Verde and Adelanto expire in 2020. The cities of Adelanto and McFarland previously had agreements with ICE to run the facilities but abruptly backed out, which led the agency to directly contract with private corporations to run the jails. Critics allege ICE pressured the local jurisdictions to back out of the agreement as a way to circumvent SB29.
How this most recent solicitation process will play out remains to be seen.
More bed space for ICE could signify an uptick in collateral arrests — meaning the spontaneous arrests of immigrants who are in the vicinity of an enforcement operation targeting another individual — according to Yazdan Panah.
“They shouldn’t be locked up in horrific conditions and exploited for monetary gain while they await their civil proceedings,” he said.
