California congressman has human rights concerns after visiting ICE facility
Congressman says conditions at California ICE facility is 'systemic neglect'
Congressman Ro Khanna said the California City Detention Center in Kern County was full of "systemic neglect."
CALIFORNIA CITY, Calif. - Bay Area Rep. Ro Khanna said a recent visit to the controversial California City ICE detention center revealed what he described as serious human rights concerns.
Human rights concerns
What they're saying:
Khanna posted photos of the exterior of the privately run detention facility east of Bakersfield on social media. He said his Tuesday visit was prompted by the detention of a constituent from Sunnyvale whom he said was beaten and was later deported.
He said he was escorted through the center, which he described as "cold" and "stark," by six staff members, including the warden.
According to Khanna, several inmates told him they did not know why they were being held. He said he was most alarmed by what he described as an apparent lack of medical care at the facility.
"I am deeply shaken by my visit," Khanna said in videos on TikTok, Instagram and Facebook, where he wrote a lengthy description of his visit.
He decribed meeting with 47 detainees, many of whom were in tears.
Some told him, "We are human beings. We should not be treated like animals or murderers."
Khanna said some reported that they had rocks in the food, they didn't get fruit for weeks, they couldn't see their family members face-to-face, but could only speak to them on phones behind glass.
He said the detainees came from Afghanistan, Armenia, Bangladesh, Colombia, El Salvador, Honduras, India, Mexico, Nepal, Venezuela, and others. Most told Khanna they were never told why they were detained.
"I am sounding the alarm," Khanna said, adding that he wants Congressional oversight over ICE facilities.
No comment from ICE
The other side:
ICE did not immediately respond for comment.
Lawsuit filed
Big picture view:
In November, several ICE detainees, including Gomez Ruiz, sued ICE in US District Court in Northern California, alleging the California City center is polluted with sewage, provides inadequate medical care and is denying people access to food and lawyers.
The California City Immigration Processing Center is about 75 miles east of Bakersfield.
It used to operate as a state prison managed by the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation. ICE contracted with the for-profit company CoreCivic to re-open the prison as an immigration detention center in 2025.
With 2,560 beds, the facility is the largest immigration detention center in California.
When the lawsuit was filed, more than 800 people were detained in the facility. On Khanna's visit this week, he said he was told that 1,428 detainees were there, including 215 women.
CoreCivic projects the center will reach full capacity by early 2026.
The lawsuit was filed by the Prison Law Office, a nonprofit organization that focuses on conditions in California prisons; along with the American Civil Liberties Union, the advocacy group California Collaborative for Immigrant Justice and the law firm Keker Van Nest & Peters LLP.