Advocates Demand Demolition of FCI Dublin to Block ICE from Turning It Into Detention Center

The shuttered Federal Correctional Institution (FCI) Dublin, a former women’s prison in California’s East Bay, faces a disturbing potential future: conversion into an Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) detention center. Advocates, residents, and faith leaders are calling for the facility’s demolition, citing a legacy of sexual abuse, unsafe infrastructure, and environmental hazards that make it unfit for any form of incarceration.

FCI Dublin closed in April 2024 after a major sexual abuse scandal implicated multiple staff members, including the warden and chaplain, who have since been sentenced. Former inmates like Aimee Chavira recount mold-covered walls painted over for inspections and brown water flowing from drinking fountains — conditions that made people sick and violated their basic rights.

The Federal Bureau of Prisons (BOP) recently issued an environmental assessment highlighting severe problems including leaking sewers, diesel contamination, asbestos, and mold. The report marks the first step toward transferring the property to the General Services Administration (GSA), which manages government assets and could pass the site to another federal agency such as the Department of Homeland Security (DHS).

Advocates with the ICE Out of Dublin Coalition warn that ICE is actively seeking to expand detention capacity in Northern California, where community organizing has previously shut down other ICE contracts. The “ICE Surge Team” within GSA reportedly targets properties like Dublin to fill this gap. Though ICE denies current plans to convert the site, the Bureau of Prisons has not ruled out the possibility.

Local officials have joined the opposition. California Senators Adam Schiff and Alex Padilla, along with East Bay Representative Mark DeSaulnier, have formally urged DHS not to repurpose FCI Dublin for detention. The Dublin City Council and Alameda County Board of Supervisors have passed resolutions rejecting any reopening or reuse of the facility for incarceration.

“The ICE detention system is plagued by the very same kinds of abuses and neglect that folks survived at FCI Dublin,” said Susan Beaty, attorney with the California Collaborative for Immigrant Justice. “Demolishing the facility is the only way to mitigate the really serious environmental dangers and ensure that these unsafe buildings aren’t used to incarcerate people in the future.”

The Biden administration’s “One Big Beautiful Bill Act” allocated $45 billion last year to massively expand ICE detention, fueling fears that facilities like Dublin could be revived to fuel the largest deportation effort in U.S. history. This push comes as ICE has already opened two detention centers on former California prison sites since 2025.

For communities that have fought hard to keep ICE out, the threat of FCI Dublin becoming a detention center is a stark reminder that the carceral state’s reach is far from over. Without demolition, this site risks becoming a new chapter in the ongoing cycle of abuse, neglect, and human rights violations that define ICE detention nationwide.