ICE Sneaks Open Another For-Profit Detention Center in California’s Central Valley

Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) has quietly opened a new detention center in California’s Central Valley, repurposing a shuttered state prison in McFarland into a 700-bed immigrant detention facility. Operated by the for-profit prison company Geo Group, the Central Valley Annex marks the eighth active ICE detention site in California, all run by private contractors with a combined capacity nearing 10,000 beds.

This latest expansion comes amid a sharp 72 percent increase in California’s immigrant detention population since April 2025, now averaging over 5,300 people held daily. The McFarland facility is part of a cluster of ICE sites in Kern County, adjacent to Geo Group’s existing Golden State Annex, which already houses about 565 detainees.

Advocates for immigrant rights say the opening was done without meaningful public input or hearings, violating California state law that requires a 180-day notice and community consultation before repurposing facilities for immigration detention. Edwin Carmona-Cruz, co-executive director of the California Collaborative for Immigrant Justice, condemned the move: “We don’t want another ICE detention center in California, or anywhere else for that matter.” He warned detainees at Central Valley Annex face the same abuses and inhumane conditions documented at nearby facilities, including medical neglect, solitary confinement, and exploitative labor practices.

Geo Group’s history in McFarland is deeply entangled with California’s struggle over private prisons. Until 2020, the company operated private prisons for the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation but lost those contracts after the state’s incarcerated population declined and Governor Gavin Newsom pledged to end private prisons. In a last-minute deal just before a state law banning conversion of former prisons to detention centers took effect, ICE signed a $1.5 billion, 15-year contract with Geo Group for three facilities in the region, including the new Central Valley Annex.

The McFarland city government, heavily reliant on Geo Group’s tax payments and fees, has faced internal conflicts over the company’s expansion. The former mayor resigned after the city’s planning commission deadlocked on Geo’s proposal to convert the sites for immigration detention. Despite opposition, Geo has pushed forward, promising jobs and mitigation payments to the small agricultural town.

This expansion is part of a nationwide surge in ICE detention fueled by a $45 billion budget boost signed into law by President Trump in 2025. ICE aims to detain over 100,000 immigrants daily — more than double the 40,000 held when Trump took office. The rapid growth of privately operated detention centers, often in former state prisons, raises urgent questions about oversight, conditions, and the human cost of the administration’s aggressive deportation agenda.

As ICE quietly expands its detention empire in California, the lack of transparency and accountability leaves immigrant communities vulnerable to abuse and neglect. The Central Valley Annex is the latest example of how for-profit companies and federal agencies are reshaping the landscape of immigration enforcement — at the expense of human dignity and democratic oversight.