Thread: ICE opens 400-bed immigrant detention center near Bakersfield CA.

ICE opens 400-bed immigrant detention center near Bakersfield

Detainees walk down a hallway at an immigrant detention center in Adelanto in 2013. (Cheryl A. Guerrero / Los Angeles Times)

By KATE LINTHICUM contact the reporter

ICE opens 400-bed immigrant detention center near Bakersfield

Immigrant advocates say new detention center in Central Valley is too far from legal services
Private firm will operate new detention center for immigrants near Bakersfield

The federal government has begun transferring immigrants facing deportation to a new, 400-bed detention center in the Central Valley town of McFarland.

The facility, a former prison about 25 miles north of Bakersfield, will house immigrants who were taken into custody in the Central Valley as well as some long-term detainees who have been detained in other parts of the state, according to Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials.


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Virginia Kice, a spokeswoman for ICE, said the agency has needed bed space in the region since a previous detention center there closed nearly two years ago.

The opening of the new facility in the small farming community, she said, "again affords us the option to house foreign nationals encountered in Central California at a facility closer to their families and communities."

But immigrant advocates groups argue that the facility's rural location will make it difficult for detainees to access legal help.

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“It’s going to make it virtually impossible for us to represent the detained population,” said Ilyce Shugall, an attorney with Community Legal Services in East Palo Alto, which helps low-income clients.

Because there are no immigration court judges based in the Central Valley, most immigrants at the new site, known as the Mesa Verde Detention Facility, will have their court hearings via live video feeds.

Advocates are not concerned only about the new facility's isolation.

They have also raised questions about the private prison company that will be paid about $107 per day per detainee to operate the site.


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In a news release, Florida-based GEO Group said it expects the McFarland facility to generate about $17 million in revenue each year.

GEO operates immigrant detention facilities around the country, including a sprawling jail complex in the high desert town of Adelanto that is being expanded from 1,300 to 1,950 beds. ICE officials have said the Adelanto expansion is necessary to help meet demand for more bed space in the Los Angeles area.

Advocates have accused GEO of neglect, citing the death of Fernando Dominguez, a Mexican immigrant who died of pneumonia in 2012 after being detained at Adelanto. An inspection report by the Department of Homeland Security found the detention center "failed to provide adequate healthcare" to Dominguez.


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GEO Group officials said the company's facilities are safe. All immigrant detention facilities are subject to regular federal inspections.

Immigrant advocates have long pushed for cheaper alternatives to detention, including parole-type programs or electronic-monitoring devices. They oppose a rule that for years has required the federal government to pay for roughly 34,000 beds in detention centers each night.

So far this year, actual detention numbers have fallen far below the so-called "bed mandate."

According to Kice, the agency's average daily detainee population is 26,374 for fiscal year 2015. Approximately 13% of the nation's detainees were housed at facilities in California, she said.

http://www.latimes.com/local/lanow/l...323-story.html

Private facility now holding immigration detainees in Bakersfield

By Carol Ferguson, Eyewitness News Published: Apr 3, 2015 at 6:13 PM PDT

»PLAY VIDEO
BAKERSFIELD, Calif. (KBAK/KBFX) - Undocumented immigrants are now being housed in a long-closed private correctional facility in Bakersfield.

Immigration and Customs Enforcement has started filling the Mesa Verde Detention Facility on Golden State Avenue, and, as of Friday, the site held 85 detainees.

ICE says this is its only facility in the San Joaquin Valley, and it's key to meeting some of the agency's goals.

"This facility will be in compliance with the most rigorous performance-based standards that we impose on our facilities," ICE spokeswoman Virginia Kice said. She says the newly-renovated facility will be good for the people held there. "They'll have access to the best possible conditions, and we're very pleased about that."

Kice says the location is also key to their ongoing detention reform plan, because it will keep detainees in the area. Until now, people picked up in the San Joaquin Valley were sent to ICE facilities in Northern California.

"That's problematic in terms of access to their families, and could also be problematic to their legal counsel, if they're represented," she said.

The spokeswoman said people housed at Mesa Verde will be "foreign nationals" waiting for the final outcome of their immigration proceedings. Kice said the "vast majority" of individuals waiting on cases are not detained, but places like Mesa Verde are needed for the others.

"We prioritize the use of our detention bed for individuals who are deemed to be public safety threats, and individuals who are thought to be flight risks," she said. "They may have fairly significant criminal convictions, but I'd like to emphasize that if they would have prior criminal convictions -- they have already fulfilled any sentence imposed in these cases."

Those immigrants would have served sentences in state prison.

State inmates were sent to Mesa Verde, until prison realignment happened. The correctional facility has been unused since 2009.

Kice said ICE now has an intergovernmental service agreement with the City of McFarland to run Mesa Verde, and the city has a contract with the GEO Group to handle day-to-day operations. A company spokesman has said GEO put some $10 million into the renovations at the facility.

The remodeled site has dorm-style rooms, ICE says, and detainees will have access to an on-site law library, medical clinic and religious services. It also has visitation rooms and recreation areas. The agency says the average cost to house a detainee at Mesa Verde will be $107 a day.

Kice could not tell Eyewitness News how many jobs the re-opening has created, and no one from GEO responded to our calls on Friday.

The ICE spokeswoman said detainees are waiting for their cases to go through the immigration court process, and typically more than 70 percent are released in less than 30 days.

And while the private company, GEO Group, will handle operations, Kice says ICE will have a regular presence at Mesa Verde.

"We'll have officers there who will be responsible for meeting on a regular basis with detainees to ensure these individuals are aware of the status of their cases, (and) will ensure that individuals are available when they are needed to attend any court proceedings," she said.

Kice said ICE has worked for about two years to get a facility like this. "We're very pleased that we're finally able to bring this to fruition," she said.

http://www.bakersfieldnow.com/news/l...298641591.html