California lawmakers have passed a piece of legislation that will prevent the building of some ICE detention centers and private prisons in the state.
Assembly Bill 32 passed the California state House with a vote of 65-11 last Wednesday after the state Senate voted overwhelmingly in favor of the bill Tuesday. According to NBC News, the bill, if signed into law, will phase out the state's use of private prisons by the year 2028. Under the letter of the bill, the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation will no longer be able to imprison people at for-profit institutions outside of the state.
An amendment in June gave way to specific language banning ICE detention centers as well. The bill, spearheaded by Assemblyman Rob Bonta, will tackle the growing state population of for-profit incarcerated people. There are currently 2,222 people in for-profit prisons. California also currently houses 1,300 people at ICE-operated centers.
“My understanding is AB32 would prevent new contracts for these facilities,” Hamid Yazdan Panah, an immigration attorney and the regional director for the Northern California Rapid Response & Immigrant Defense Network, told The Guardian. “The fact they’re on a one-year bridge, it won’t allow them to move from the one-year contract to a longer-term contract.”
Democratic Governor Gavin Newsom is expected to sign the bill into law. He has until October 13 to sign or veto. While campaigning to be governor, he voiced support for putting an end to for-profit prisons in the state.
California has actively taken on the Trump administration's use of detention centers with this major piece of legislation. Deaths of young immigrant children have highlighted the harsh conditions of the centers.
"We don't comment on pending legislation," Bryan D. Cox, acting press secretary for ICE told NBC News. "But any person under the impression that a state law in any way binds the hands of a federal law enforcement agency which manages a national network of detention facilities would be a false impression."