Rocio Perez

AB 32: End For-Profit Detention Centers By Rocio Perez California is home to Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s (ICE) largest detention centers, Adelanto and Mesa Verde. Both are owned by GeoGroup, a private corporation that received $184 million in profits in 2017 alone. GeoGroup joins CoreCivic as the two leading private corporations operating forprofit detention centers in the United States. Numerous reports have cited these detention centers as being overcrowded, neglecting life-threatening medical conditions, and lacking adequate legal counsel thus prolonging detention periods and violating due process. However, Assembly Bill 32 (AB 32), which recently cleared both houses of the California State Legislature and is on its way to Governor Newsom’s desk, would ban private prisons facilities and detention centers by prohibiting the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation from entering or renewing contracts with private corporations. Under the Trump administration, privately operated prisons and detention centers follow a trajectory of deterring migrant families through punishment while simultaneously expanding the role of private corporations in immigration policy. Last year, the Supreme Court, in Jennings v. Rodriguez, denied undocumented immigrants, asylum seekers, and legal permanent residents held in detention from periodic bond hearings. In other words, detained immigrants are denied periodic bond hearings and will be held in detention indefinitely while their cases are pending. Limiting access to due processes, such as periodic bond hearings and legal counsel, only increases detention periods and weakens their cases. According to a report by the California Department of Justice, the challenges in accessing legal services and counsel have led to low levels of legal representation, even to the extent of immigrants representing themselves in court. In the Adelanto Detention Center alone, detained immigrants with cases pending had a 13% rate of legal representation. This is alarming considering that 65% of detained immigrants, including children, are being held in for-profit detention centers that do not meet federal regulations and are not held liable for violations. Moreover, the Executive Branch’s decision to amend the Flores Settlement Agreement from having a 20-day limit to indefinite detention for children intentionally deters incoming migrants, especially from Central America. Finally, in 2017, President Trump signed Executive Order 13767, which expanded detention capacity with less oversight and called for detention as an alternative to ‘catch and release.’ This decision negatively impacted children, families, and asylum-seekers by holding them in detention while their cases were resolved and prolonged the separation of families. The order demonstrates the extent to which the federal government can legally make detention and deportation the rule for anyone crossing into the US, regardless of their circumstances. Therefore, given the Supreme Court’s and Executive Branch’s regressive changes to immigration policy, AB32 is critical in protecting immigrant rights and their well being. If AB32 is signed into law, it would ban for-profit detention centers like Adelanto and Mesa Verde from exploiting immigrants while fighting against the Trump administration’s anti-immigrant agenda. So what can you do? Call the Office of Governor Gavin Newsom at - and tweet @GavinNewsom, and urge him to sign AB32. Together we can protect immigrant communities and set an example for the rest of the nation.