Immigration and Customs Enforcement has quietly opened another detention center in California’s Central Valley.
The 700-bed facility is located in McFarland in Kern County at the site of a former state prison.
An ICE spokesperson told our partner CalMatters the facility began housing detainees within the last two weeks.
CalMatters reporter Wendy Fry says there’s a set process cities and counties are supposed to follow before approving a facility for immigration detention.
“They have to provide a 180-day notice to the public. The public gets an opportunity to put community impact in the municipality wherever that facility is going to open. And they have to get certain permits from the city or the county where they're going to be operating.”
ICE told CalMatters the facility opened under “an existing intergovernmental services agreement that had been in place for years.”
The McFarland Facility is the second ICE detention center to open in California during President Donald Trump’s second term.
