Migrants and asylum seekers from Mauritania wait to be picked up and processed by U.S. Border Patrol agents in Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument along the U.S.-Mexico border about a mile west of Lukeville on Dec. 4, 2023.
Los Angeles, California – Immigration detention centers across California are failing to provide adequate mental health care, suicide prevention, and proper documentation of use-of-force incidents, according to a scathing new report released today by the California Department of Justice.
The 165-page report, compiled following inspections of all six active immigration detention facilities in the state, found systemic deficiencies that pose serious risks to detainees — particularly those with mental health conditions. The findings arrive at a politically fraught moment, as the second Trump administration aggressively expands immigration enforcement and plans to increase detention capacity nationwide.
“California’s facility reviews remain especially critical in light of efforts by the Trump Administration to both eliminate oversight of conditions at immigration detention facilities and increase its inhumane campaign of mass immigration enforcement,” said California Attorney General Rob Bonta. He warned that growing detainee populations may worsen conditions in already overburdened and poorly managed facilities.
The number of people held in immigration detention across California has surged to over 3,100 as of April 16 — nearly doubling the 2021 daily average of 1,750. Alarmingly, about 75% of those detained have no documented criminal history, the report noted.
Investigators found widespread lapses in suicide prevention strategies, including skipped mental health screenings, substandard clinical decisions about when to remove detainees from suicide watch, and a reliance on segregation for detainees with psychiatric conditions — a practice that federal guidelines strongly discourage. At the Otay Mesa, Imperial, and Desert View Annex facilities, the report documented disproportionate use of force against individuals with known mental illnesses, including the deployment of chemical agents.
The report also highlighted poor coordination between medical and mental health providers, persistent staffing shortages, and critical failures in recordkeeping. These factors, investigators concluded, compound the risk of harm for detainees suffering from depression, anxiety, PTSD, and other mental health disorders.
At the Mesa Verde facility in Bakersfield, state officials uncovered troubling failures to document the forced transfer of detainees who had participated in a peaceful hunger strike. The same facility’s pat-down policy was found to be so invasive that it actively discouraged detainees from seeking medical care.
Transparency and accountability at the federal level have also been scrutinized. The report noted that the U.S. Department of Homeland Security recently dismantled offices dedicated to civil rights complaints and removed more than 100 related records from its website, raising concerns about diminished oversight.
A spokesperson for the GEO Group, which operates several facilities named in the report, did not respond to a request for comment. In previous statements, the company has maintained that its centers offer “high-quality medical services” and operate in full compliance with federal standards.
ICE also declined to comment on the report’s findings.
This marks the fourth review of California’s immigration detention facilities since the state began mandated inspections under a 2017 law. Officials say the state will continue its oversight efforts amid growing concern that vulnerable detainees are being put at further risk as federal authorities scale back protections.
