Sen. Padilla Demands Answers on Neglected Medical Care at California’s Largest ICE Jail

Senator Alex Padilla is stepping up oversight of California City Detention Facility, the state’s largest ICE detention center, after a disturbing report revealed the critical health deterioration of Yebio Kifle, a 48-year-old refugee with congestive heart failure and intellectual disabilities. The inquiry follows a detailed investigation by the San Francisco Chronicle, which exposed glaring gaps in medical care that have become a deadly pattern across ICE facilities.

Yebio Kifle’s sister, Senait Kifle, sounded the alarm after visiting her brother on April 6. She found him wheelchair-bound, jaundiced, with swollen legs and unable to urinate—symptoms of a medical crisis ignored by the detention center’s staff. Two independent doctors who reviewed his records told the Chronicle that Kifle’s treatment was dangerously inadequate and that without urgent care, he could die.

California City Detention Facility, operated by the private company CoreCivic, opened in August and routinely houses nearly 1,800 detainees. It has been under scrutiny since a November class-action lawsuit alleged systemic denial of medical care for life-threatening conditions. In February, a federal judge ruled in favor of detainees, ordering an independent medical monitor to investigate. Dr. Muthusamy Anandkumar is currently reviewing records and plans a site visit ahead of a public report due in July.

Despite the mounting evidence, ICE and CoreCivic spokespeople have refused to address Kifle’s case directly, citing medical privacy, but they claim detainees receive care meeting “the highest standards.” ICE’s Jason Sweeney even suggested detention is a “choice” and that detainees can “self-deport,” a callous dismissal of the reality faced by vulnerable immigrants.

Tess Borden, an attorney representing detainees in the class action, emphasized the ongoing crisis. “Our clients and their loved ones continue to report extreme failures in medical care at California City,” she said, underscoring the urgency for ICE to act on the monitor’s forthcoming recommendations.

Padilla, who has visited the facility multiple times, condemned the conditions as “inhumane,” highlighting widespread violations of basic standards, including access to healthcare, food, water, and legal counsel. “ICE and CBP continue to detain immigrants with no criminal record, all while wasting billions in taxpayer funds and doing little to increase public safety,” he said.

Since the initial visit, Kifle’s condition has worsened. When his sister returned on April 22, she found his cheeks swollen to the point he could barely speak and noticed bleeding inside his mouth. She expressed gratitude for Padilla’s intervention but confessed she had been preparing for the “worst scenario.”

This inquiry is a crucial step toward exposing the brutal neglect endemic in ICE detention centers, where profit motives and bureaucratic indifference too often come at the expense of human lives. As the independent monitor’s report approaches, the pressure mounts on ICE and CoreCivic to end the medical abuses and uphold the basic dignity of those in their custody.