Lawmakers Reiterate Their Call to Close the Detention Centers

WASHINGTON, DC - U.S. Congresswoman Zoe Lofgren (CA-18) and U.S. Senator Alex Padilla today led six of their California Democratic Congressional Delegation colleagues in requesting a Congressional Status Conference before December 2024, when the Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) contract governing the Mesa Verde ICE Processing Center and Golden State Annex is up for renewal. This follows years of reported abuse allegations and retaliatory behavior toward detainees at the facilities, including a formal civil liberties complaint, reports of denied access to attorneys, hunger strikes and subsequent facility transfers, and worker strikes.

In their letter, the Members also reiterated their call for the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and ICE to end the federal government's contract with both private facilities. They sent letters on related topics in May 2023, September 2022, and October 2021.

In addition to Lofgren and Padilla, the letter was signed by Reps. Lou Correa (CA-46), Mark DeSaulnier (CA-10), Nanette Diaz-Barragan (CA-44), Ted Lieu (CA-36), Katie Porter (CA-47), and Juan Vargas (CA-52).

Full text of the letter can be downloaded here and is copied below:

Dear Secretary Mayorkas and Acting Director Lechleitner,

We write to follow-up on our May 3, 2023 letter regarding ongoing complaints describing disturbing conditions and abusive and retaliatory behavior towards detainees by facility staff at the Mesa Verde ICE Processing Center ("Mesa Verde") and Golden State Annex ("Golden State"), both of which are run by the GEO Group ("GEO").

Furthermore, it has been brought to our attention that the ICE contract governing Mesa Verde and GSA is up for renewal in December of 2024 and that the Department of Homeland Security is currently reviewing and considering the contract renewals to both facilities.

Due to the disturbing and ongoing reports authored by people in both of these facilities as well as the DHS's own Office of Inspector General¹ (OIG) unannounced inspection report and Office of Civil Rights and Civil Liberties complaints filed, we request a congressional status conference for both DHS and ICE to provide a briefing to Members regarding conditions at Mesa Verde and Golden State. In particular, we would like responses to the following questions:

1. What is the preliminary status regarding renewal or termination of the Mesa Verde and Golden State contracts?

2. What plan is in place to ensure that free phone calls are made available to individuals detained at both Mesa Verde and Golden State?

3. Can you provide copies of responses and corrective actions taken regarding the numerous performance-based national detention standards violations found in the OIG report dated April 2024?

We reiterate our call for DHS to end contracts with GEO for Mesa Verde and Golden State, given that the ongoing allegations brought forward in our September 14, 2022 letter and our May 4, 2023 letter have been affirmed in multiple federal and state reports, and in the interest of the safety of individuals who are subjected to such conditions. We also once again ask that detainees are not merely transferred to another facility away from their support networks, legal representation and families, but are instead released on alternatives to detention and case management.

We request that DHS conduct a fair, thorough, case-by-case review of all individuals to assess their safety and determine their ongoing custody status to ensure that the facilities will close justly.

We look forward to your response and appreciate your consideration of this urgent matter.

Sincerely,

^{1 https://www.oig.dhs.gov/sites/default/files/assets/2024-04/OIG-24-23-Apr24.pdf}

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