Surging deaths at ICE detention centers spur California bill to compel better care
AI-generated summary reviewed by our newsroom.
- SB 942 would require private ICE detention centers to obtain state public health licenses.
- Licensure ties to federal standards and allows fines up to $25,000 per violation per day.
- Authors cite inspections, lawsuits and deaths in custody to justify more state oversight.
A new bill could require private companies to secure a public health license to operate immigration detention centers in the state.
The Private Detention Facility Oversight and Standards Act of 2026 (SB 942) would require private detention facilities to obtain a state license through the State Department of Public Health as a condition of operating in California.
State Sen. Anna Caballero (D-Merced), who co-authored the bill with State Sen. Steve Padilla (D-San Diego), said in a press release that the state already licenses and regulates private entities that provide health and custodial care. They say this bill is necessary to ensure private corporations comply with their federal contractual obligations.
“California will not wait for Washington to act while people suffer behind closed doors,” Caballero said.
Licensure would be tied to compliance with the health and safety standards already required under federal contracts.
The bill authorizes license issuance, denial, suspension, or revocation, and establishes enforcement tools including civil penalties of up to $25,000 per violation per day and mandatory corrective action plans. It also includes whistleblower protections to prohibit retaliation against anyone who reports health or safety violations.
Elisa Rivera, communications director for Caballero, said the bill “will apply to all private detention facilities operating in the state of California” — not just facilities that could open in the future.
“Every single immigrant held in detention in California is held in a private for-profit facility. These facilities have a dismal track record in our state,” Rivera said.
California has seven U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement detention facilities, all of which are operated by private companies.
California law already allows for review of conditions of confinement, due process and standard of care at civil immigration detention facilities operated in the state.
This bill would provide an extra layer of oversight and accountability, its authors said.
They cited several investigations by the California Department of Justice, the Federal Government Accountability Office, the Department of Homeland Security Office of Inspector General, and civil litigation have repeatedly documented delayed medical treatment, chronic understaffing, unsafe living conditions, unsanitary and inadequate food and water supplies, and refusals to correct violations in privately operated detention facilities.
In many cases, facilities continued operating despite documented violations of their own contractual obligations, the bill’s authors said.
“These are not federal facilities, but private facilities that should be abiding by the clear standards that they agreed to in their contract,” Rivera of Caballero’s office said.
“California as a state has both the right and the moral responsibility to ensure that health standards are maintained in all detention facilities. Our bill is about ensuring that these standards are maintained,” she said
In December, a team of inspectors from Attorney General Rob Bonta’s office toured the state’s newest and largest ICE detention facility, the California City Immigration Processing Facility, owned by Tennessee-based private prison operator CoreCivic.
In a seven-page letter sent to Department of Homeland Security officials, Bonta expressed “grave concerns” about the quality of medical care and living conditions. Detained individuals and immigrants rights groups recently sued ICE over alleged denial of basic services and insufficient medical care.
U.S. Senators Alex Padilla and Adam Schiff also toured the facility in mid-January and cited similar concerns about limited access to medical care.
Weakened federal oversight under Trump
Last year, 32 people died in ICE custody, making it one of the deadliest year’s on record for the agency.
According to a report by The Guardian, eight people have either been killed by ICE agents or have died in ICE custody in this year.
At the same time, the Trump administration has gutted Department of Homeland Security oversight offices, such as the Citizenship and Immigration Services Ombudsman and the Immigration Detention Ombudsman, according to a report in The Atlantic.
“This bill draws a clear line. If you want to operate in California, you will be accountable, or you will not operate at all,” Caballero said.
During the first Trump administration, legislators tried to ban private detention facilities in California, a move that was challenged in the courts. In 2024, the U.S. Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that a 2019 state law that would have banned private prisons and privately-run ICE facilities in California violated the Constitution, affirming a lower court decision that the law interfered with the federal government’s ability to carry out immigration law.
Caballero and Padilla also introduced another bill SB941 that would prohibit the excessive markup of products sold at private detention facilities.
ICE and private prison operators CoreCivic and GEO Group couldn’t be immediately reached Thursday afternoon for comment on the proposed legislation.
This story was originally published January 29, 2026 at 7:13 PM.
