Attorney General Bonta Sponsors Legislation Focused on Transparency Around Conditions at Immigration Detention Facilities

SB 1399, authored by Senator Durazo and co-sponsored by Immigrant Defense Advocates, advances out of committee

OAKLAND - California Attorney General Rob Bonta today announced his sponsorship of Senate Bill (SB) 1399, which ensures conditions at immigration detention facilities are documented by the California Department of Justice (DOJ) and reported to the Legislature and the general public. California's existing detention-facility review framework, established under Assembly Bill (AB) 103, requires DOJ to report on conditions of confinement as well as the standard of care and due process provided to detained individuals through July 1, 2027. SB 1399, authored by Senator María Elena Durazo (D-Los Angeles) and co-sponsored by Immigrant Defense Advocates, removes the sunset provision of AB 103 so that these critical reports continue past 2027.

"Since the beginning of the first Trump Administration, DOJ has shined a light on the inhumane and substandard conditions at immigration detention facilities across California through rigorous inspections and periodic reports," said Attorney General Rob Bonta. "As the Trump Administration's mass deportation campaign is exacerbating existing problems at these facilities, California's reviews remain especially critical. I'm proud to sponsor SB 1399 to ensure continued transparency around these facilities past 2027, and I'm grateful to Senator Durazo for championing this bill."

"Everyone has a right to dignity, including immigrants held in detention facilities. SB 1399 makes sure California can keep shining a light on what happens inside these facilities - and that the public can trust that oversight will not disappear," said Senator María Elena Durazo. "I'm grateful for Attorney General Bonta's and Immigrant Defense Advocates' partnership in this fight."

"Transparency is the first step toward accountability," said Hamid Yazdan Panah, Co-Executive Director of Immigrant Defense Advocates. "SB 1399 ensures California can continue to pull back the curtain on private, for-profit detention facilities, protecting the health and safety of our residents at a time when public oversight has never been more important."

Attorney General Bonta is committed to providing members of the public and policymakers with critical information about the conditions that people in civil immigration detention in California are subjected to. In response to growing concerns for the health and safety of people in civil immigration detention, the California Legislature enacted AB 103 in 2017 to require DOJ to review and report on conditions of confinement at immigration detention facilities through July 1, 2027. Last year, Attorney General Bonta released DOJ's fourth report on immigration detention facilities operating in California where noncitizens are detained by ICE. The report, which identified ongoing deficiencies in the standard of care, raised concerns that inadequate conditions would be exacerbated as the Trump Administration sought to increase immigration enforcement and detention.

In addition, last month, Attorney General Bonta highlighted DOJ's findings in an amicus brief opposing the conditions of confinement at Adelanto ICE Processing Center, one of the largest immigration detention centers in the United States. He also separately sent a letter to the U.S. Department of Homeland Security shining a light on dangerous conditions at the recently opened California City Detention Facility.