California Sent Investigators to ICE Facilities. They Found More Detainees, and Health Care Gaps

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A new report from the California Department of Justice finds that immigration detention facilities across the state continue to fall short in providing basic mental health care, with gaps in suicide prevention and treatment, recordkeeping, and use of force incidents against mentally ill detainees.

The report’s release today comes alongside an aggressive expansion of immigration enforcement and broader changes to immigration policy under President Donald Trump’s second administration. The timing of the report’s release signals California officials plan to continue oversight as federal officials move to expand immigration detention capacity in the state.

It flagged that California’s detainee population has grown since the state’s last review: more than 3,100 people were held in immigration detention statewide as of April 16, up from the daily average of about 1,750 in 2021, the report found. About 75% of those detained had no documented criminal history.

Investigators with the state’s Department of Justice inspected all six active immigration facilities in California. The inspections were conducted under a 2017 state law that mandated the Attorney General’s office review and report on immigration detention facilities operating in California. It’s the fourth report to be released on conditions in facilities where noncitizens are detained in California by federal Immigration and Customs Enforcement authorities.

The findings come amid broader concerns about federal oversight: the report notes that the federal Department of Homeland Security recently moved to shutter internal offices tasked with investigating civil rights complaints and detention conditions. Last week, the homeland security department quietly removed more than 100 civil rights and civil liberties records from its website, sparking concerns about transparency and accountability in immigration enforcement.

“California’s facility reviews remain especially critical in light of efforts by the Trump Administration to both eliminate oversight of conditions at immigration detention facilities and increase its inhumane campaign of mass immigration enforcement, potentially exacerbating critical issues already present in these facilities by packing them with more people,” said Attorney General Rob Bonta.

The 165-page report details conditions at privately operated facilities where federal immigration officials detain people facing deportation. State investigators found “deficiencies in suicide prevention and intervention strategies” at every site, including missed mental health screenings and improper clinical decisions about when to release detainees from suicide watch.

Staffing shortages, poor coordination between medical and mental health care providers, and widespread problems with record-keeping contributed to the risks for detainees, many of whom suffer from depression, anxiety, and post-traumatic stress disorder, according to the report.

Conditions that can worsen mental health, such as solitary confinement, remain common, the report found. At facilities known as Desert View Annex, Imperial, and Otay Mesa, investigators found that force was disproportionately used against individuals with mental health conditions, including cases where chemical agents were deployed. At the Mesa Verde facility in Bakersfield, officials failed to properly document or report the forced transfer of detainees who had participated in a peaceful hunger strike, the report said.

Despite federal guidelines discouraging the isolation of detainees with mental illness, the California review found people with serious mental health conditions were routinely placed in segregation, sometimes for months at a time. Investigators found some facilities failed to properly inform detainees about protections under a federal court settlement that requires legal representation for people with severe mental health disorders.

Pat-down policies at the Mesa Verde center discouraged detainees from seeking health care, the review found. Detainees reported feeling that invasive searches deterred them from attending medical appointments or accessing other services.

A spokesman for Geo Group, the private company that operates several of the facilities, did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the just-released report, but previously told CalMatters that the company provides high-quality medical services including “around-the-clock access to medical care, which is governed by the Performance-Based National Detention Standards set by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security and independently accredited by the National Commission on Correctional Health Care.”

“In all instances, our contracted services are monitored by the federal government to ensure strict compliance with Performance-Based National Detention Standards, which apply to all ICE Processing Centers,” Geo spokesman Christopher Ferreira said in December.

ICE did not immediately respond to a request for comment.