Dublin Council Takes Stand Against Turning Closed Prison Into ICE Detention

The Dublin City Council unanimously voted Tuesday night to oppose repurposing a shuttered federal women’s prison as an immigration detention facility or for any other type of incarceration.

FCI Dublin closed in scandal last year amid allegations from scores of incarcerated women that they had faced years of sexual assault and mistreatment there. Following news reports that U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials had toured the facility in February, community members rallied against a potential pivot to ICE detention.

More than 100 Dublin residents and others attended Tuesday evening’s council meeting, carrying signs that read “ICE out of Dublin,” and “We welcome immigrants here.”

Vice Mayor Jean Josey said the message was heard loud and clear. Forty percent of Dublin residents are foreign-born, and she said she’s concerned they could be subject to racial profiling by immigration agents, as she’s observed in the Trump administration’s aggressive approach to enforcement in other cities.

“We’re seeing fear around the country. We’re seeing impacts on schools and small businesses,” she said. “When there’s a detention facility nearby, it is well documented that there’s increased enforcement that’s not necessarily targeting folks with criminal backgrounds, but folks who may just look as if they might be immigrants.”

In addition, Josey said, the prison has problems such as mold, asbestos and structural deficiencies that make it unsafe for inmates and staff. And residential neighborhoods have grown up around the facility.

“There are homes right up against the property,” she said. “We don’t feel that it is an appropriate facility at this point to house anyone.”

All five council members approved the resolution, which states their opposition to reopening the facility “for any detention or correctional purpose, including but not limited to its use as an Immigration and Customs Enforcement detention facility.” They call on the federal government “to engage in open and transparent communication with the City regarding any decisions affecting the site.”

City officials don’t control what the federal government does with its property, so the resolution is primarily symbolic. But both advocates and Dublin leaders say it’s still important to go on the record with a message of opposition.

Roughly three dozen people spoke Tuesday night in favor of the resolution, with just one speaker opposed. One of those who spoke was Liz Schmitt, 85, a member of the local chapter of Indivisible, a grassroots progressive network working to combat President Donald Trump’s agenda.

“I recognize it’s federal property and the city has absolutely no legal authority, but public outcry can go a long way,” she said. “The council listened to the residents and did what the residents asked, and I’m very proud of that.”

The vote followed a meeting last month where scores of community members urged the council to take a more public stance against turning the prison into an ICE detention facility.

According to Josey, city staffers have written to the Federal Bureau of Prisons, which owns the property, and to the Department of Homeland Security, urging them not to reopen the FCI Dublin site. She said the council is also in communication with Dublin’s state and federal representatives.

“While it is true that we do not have any direct influence or any direct control, we believe that we can make our feelings known,” Josey said.

Democratic Reps. Eric Swalwell and Mark DeSaulnier, who represent Dublin in Congress, have both spoken out against turning the prison into an ICE facility.

Even before the Trump administration began vastly ramping up immigration enforcement, ICE was seeking additional detention space in California and elsewhere in the Western U.S. Last year, the agency issued a request for information about potential facilities within a two-hour drive of its San Francisco field office. Today, the closest ICE lockup is nearly 300 miles away.

A new ICE facility opened in late August in the Kern County town of California City. That facility, which is already facing allegations of substandard conditions, is privately run, as are the other six ICE detention centers in California.

Community activists fear a planned transfer of FCI Dublin out of the ownership of the Federal Bureau of Prisons could be the first step in handing the property over to ICE or a private prison company, which could run it as an immigration detention center.

In a Dec. 4 letter to Dublin officials, the BOP said it is planning to turn the Dublin facility over to the U.S. General Services Administration, which handles federal real estate, because the property is too expensive to keep up.

“The BOP has determined that the Federal Correctional Institution (FCI) located in Dublin, California (FCI Dublin), where most of the buildings and infrastructure were developed in the 1970s, is no longer needed to house inmates, requires substantial capital investment to meet standards, and is costly to operate and maintain,” the letter stated.

ICE has not yet responded to KQED’s request for comment.