A former state prison in California City (Kern County) is being transformed into California’s largest immigration detention center under a new agreement between Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and CoreCivic, a private prison contractor.
The facility, which once operated as a state-run men’s prison, will now be known as the California City Immigration Processing Center and is expected to add 2,560 detention beds—a move that would boost California’s detention capacity by 36%.
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- 1 Fast-Tracked Expansion Amid National Crackdown
- 2 Local and State Responses Mixed
- 3 Critics Slam Private Prison Involvement
- 4 Facility Now Hiring
- 5 What’s Next?
Fast-Tracked Expansion Amid National Crackdown
The conversion is part of the Trump administration’s push to expand ICE’s national detention capacity from 41,500 to 100,000 beds. Citing “compelling urgency,” ICE bypassed the normal bidding process, awarding a six-month, $10 million no-bid contract to CoreCivic, according to the Associated Press.
“Never in our 42-year company history have we had so much activity and demand for our services,” said CoreCivic CEO Damon Hininger in a recent earnings call.
The shift marks a dramatic reversal of California’s 2020 policy to phase out private prisons, including immigration detention centers. This facility was previously decommissioned as part of that effort and last operated as a state prison until March 2024.
Local and State Responses Mixed
California City Mayor Marquette Hawkins acknowledged the creation of 550 new jobs, a potential economic boost for the desert town. However, he emphasized the need for oversight and accountability, especially given that 40% of residents are Latino.
“We want to make sure there is fairness,” Hawkins said. “We talked about oversight and my office having the ability to do that.”
As of May 2025, California ranked third in the nation for detained migrants, behind Texas and Louisiana, with nearly 3,200 migrants in custody.
Critics Slam Private Prison Involvement
Immigrant rights advocates and progressive groups are sounding the alarm about the growing influence of private prison corporations in immigration enforcement. CoreCivic and its competitor GEO Group now operate multiple detention centers across California, including in Bakersfield, McFarland, and Adelanto.
A coalition called Californians United for a Responsible Budget, representing over 100 advocacy groups, is urging Gov. Gavin Newsom to act in the 2025–26 state budget to fully decommission unused state prisons, arguing that “warm shutdown” facilities are ripe for federal takeovers.
Among the facilities under scrutiny are:
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California City
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Chuckawalla Valley State Prison
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FCI Dublin
Facility Now Hiring
As of Friday, CoreCivic’s website listed several job openings at the site, including a managerial role paying over $81,000 annually and 13 health care positions.
The facility, originally built in 1999 for $100 million, was first used to house federal inmates and then leased to the state. It remained mostly inactive until the recent ICE contract began the transition to a full-scale immigration processing center.
What’s Next?
With the new signage in place and staffing ramping up, CoreCivic has already begun “preliminary activation activities.” Meanwhile, critics continue to call for tighter regulation and oversight, warning that the move further entrenches corporate influence in immigration enforcement and undermines California’s commitment to end the use of private prisons.
