Gov. Newsom can protect immigrant lives by holding ICE detention centers accountable

We are all shocked and appalled by recent reports that women in a Georgia ICE detention center were forcibly sterilized with hysterectomies.

Sadly, this disturbing news is just the latest example of the horrific conditions that those in immigrant detention face everyday in our country. Here in California, immigrants in detention have been subjected to abuse and neglect while facing a deadly pandemic. California now has an important opportunity to protect the health and safety of those in immigrant detention with Assembly Bill 3228, a bill designed to hold for-profit detention operators accountable for their conduct in these facilities.

The horrors that took place against female detainees occurred at a facility operated by a for-profit corporation, LaSalle Corrections. For too long, private prison companies have engaged in horrific abuse and misconduct with no consequences. That is why California passed Assembly Bill 32 last year to end the use of these facilities in our state.

Gov. Newsom did the right thing when he signed that law, and had ICE and these for-profit companies not colluded to circumvent the law, California would have closed almost all of these facilities by now. Instead, we still have five private carceral facilities open in our state, including four that house immigrants.

The challenge we face as a state is not only ensuring that those inside the facility are protected, but also that the spread of COVID-19 does not threaten the medical infrastructure of surrounding communities. Our state must take proactive steps on the issue of immigrant detention to prevent further needless tragedy.

Since March, advocates have warned of the potential crisis posed by COVID-19 spreading in prisons and detention facilities. So far, two of these four facilities have been the site of major COVID-19 outbreaks, with the Otay Mesa detention facility being the site of what was at one point the largest outbreak in any immigrant detention facility in the country. California was also home to the first death in immigrant detention from COVID-19 when Carlos Ernesto Escobar Mejia died at the Otay Mesa facility in May.

This death, along with the tragic suicide of a 74-year old man in the Mesa Verde detention facility run by the GEO Group, paints a horrific picture of negligence and abuse in these facilities. These same corporations are not only deciding the fate of those detained in their facilities but are also making decisions that can affect the public health of surrounding communities.

An alarming study published in the Journal of Urban Health on the spread of COVID-19 estimated that coronavirus outbreaks among a minimum of 65 ICE facilities (59%) would overwhelm ICU beds within a 10-mile radius. Outbreaks among a minimum of eight ICE facilities (7%) would overwhelm local ICU beds within a 50-mile radius over a 90-day period, provided every ICU bed was made available for sick detainees.

While immigration is a federal issue, states exercise police power over health, safety and general welfare. In recent years, this has included California’s Assembly Bill 103 and other legislation aimed at inspecting and improving conditions of confinement in immigrant detention facilities. Instead of standing by while ICE condemns immigrants to death and private operators place their profits over the needs of our community, California must act decisively on the issue of immigrant detention.

AB 3228 provides a clear path to justice for harmed individuals and a strong incentive for these corporations to follow the law. It creates a cause of action so that anyone who is harmed when a private corporation violates their own standards can seek justice in a court of a law. More importantly, it sends a message that California is monitoring the conduct of these private operators in facilities that can quickly turn into mass sites of COVID-19 infection.

Together, we can secure vulnerable facilities and re-open our state. But this can only be done if we take serious steps to protect vulnerable populations and ensure clear accountability from those who breach their duties to public health, safety and human life. That is why Gov. Gavin Newsom must do the right thing and sign AB 3228, sending a clear message that California will remain a leader in protecting immigrant communities and placing people over profits.

At a time when we are all shocked and appalled by what is taking place in immigrant detention, California can serve as a model for the nation with AB 32 and AB 3228. Both bills will ensure justice for those who are harmed by the misconduct of private operators and will help to end for-profit detention once and for all.