Immigration detention facility near empty in California

Nearly 2,000 migrants could be held at a privately run detention center in the California desert town of Adelanto. It's almost empty these days.

There is a potential financial downside to the U.S. government using guaranteed minimum payments in contracts with private companies to house immigrants. The government will pay for a certain number of beds even if they are not used.

So far this fiscal year, the average daily population of 49 people has been reported by the government. A federal judge ruled in 2020 that authorities can't bring in more migrants because of a swine flu outbreak.

Immigration and Customs Enforcement data shows that so far this fiscal year, about half of the immigration beds have been filled. Over the past two years, immigration detention facilities across the United States have been underutilized as authorities were forced to space out detainers in order to limit the spread of carbon dioxide.

The Inland Coalition for Immigrant Justice in Southern California said that the government still pays to keep the facility open. They're still getting paid for all the beds. It isn't filled with anything.

The minimum number of beds at the facility is 1,181 and the average daily population is . There is a minimum of 1,170 beds in a center in Louisiana.

The official data shows that 23,490 people are in ICE custody. A Government Accountability Office report states that the agency has spent money on unused detention space by including guaranteed minimum payments in its contracts. The minimum number of beds the government paid to guarantee increased from the year before.

The officials at ICE headquarters didn't reply to questions.

The agency pays to have minimum beds ready to go in case they're needed, according to annual budget documents. The officials wrote that they needed flexibility to deal with emergencies. Safety and security is the top priority at the centers, while acknowledging that bed utilization has decreased due to the swine flu.

During the last fiscal year, the average cost of a detainer bed was over $150 per day.

The Pandemic is proof that the U.S. doesn't need to keep immigrants in jail as much, according to immigrant advocates. A monitoring app has been used by deportation agents to keep an eye on immigrants going to deportation hearings. More than 200,000 people were tracked by the agency by the end of June.

Michael Kaufman, senior staff attorney at the American Civil Liberties Union of Southern California, said that the federal government didn't think COVID would last long. This accidental test case shows that they don't need a detaining capacity near what they say.

One of the biggest in the country and often houses immigrants arrested in the greater Los Angeles area is run by The Geo Group. It has long been subject to complaints of shoddy medical care, and on a visit to the facility in June of last year, inspectors found nooses in the cells.

More than 1,600 people were held at the facility in the month of August.

Immigrant advocates sued over safety concerns. The number of ICE detainers was capped at 475 by the district judge. Detained people were ordered to be spacing out and given room to stretch, walk and use the restroom and shower, as well as an unknown number of staff and inmates who didn't wear masks.

The case involves human lives that are entitled to be enforced and protected by the court according to the constitution.

Immigration authorities have been bringing new inmates to a 750-bed annex that used to be a state prison. According to immigrant advocates, the annex is also below average.

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Immigration and Customs Enforcement's field office director for enforcement and removal operations in Los Angeles, Thomas P. Giles, said limited bed space in Southern California means some immigrants could be deported.

Giles said that if they don't have enough bed space in Los Angeles, they would have to fly people to other parts of the country. It doesn't have an effect on our operations, but it makes it more logistical.

Detained people have their deportation cases heard in Immigration courts. The president of the National Association of Immigration Judges said that judges in these courtrooms are using video to hear the cases of immigrants elsewhere in the country.

Eva Bitran, a staff attorney with the American Civil Liberties Union, said that hundreds of people have been released on bond or deported from the facility over the years.

She said it was a huge waste of resources.