Overview
- After a multi-hour tour, the senators reported detainee accounts of moldy food, foul-smelling water, and delays in medical care, calling the situation dangerous.
- Roughly 1,400 to 1,450 people are being held at the CoreCivic-run site, which opened in late August with capacity for about 2,500 detainees.
- Padilla and Schiff said many detainees were taken at routine immigration appointments and appear to have no prior criminal history, raising due process and access-to-counsel concerns.
- California’s attorney general previously warned DHS of inadequate care and unsafe conditions, and a federal class-action suit alleges medical neglect and unsanitary living areas; DHS and ICE dispute the claims.
- The visit comes as national detention counts top 70,000 and follows a renewed DHS policy requiring seven days’ notice for congressional inspections that is facing ongoing legal challenges.