DUBLIN, California – Hundreds of advocates, including survivors of sexual abuse at the now-shuttered Federal Correctional Institution (FCI) Dublin and those formerly detained by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), gathered in a powerful demonstration demanding the facility remain permanently closed. Protesters condemned ICE’s reported interest in reopening the notorious prison to detain immigrants, warning that such a move would perpetuate a legacy of abuse and neglect.
The rally, which drew approximately 500 participants, was a direct response to ICE officials touring the decommissioned prison in recent weeks. Advocates fear that the same unsafe and abusive conditions that led to FCI Dublin’s closure would persist if the facility were repurposed for immigrant detention. Survivors, community organizers, and members of Congress have joined in calls to prevent its reopening, citing years of documented sexual violence, medical neglect, and environmental hazards.
“One of our key demands as survivors of the extreme abuse at Dublin has been for the permanent closure of the facility,” said Aimee Chavira, a survivor and advocate with the Dublin Prison Solidarity Coalition. “At FCI Dublin, noncitizens were specifically preyed upon by staff, and we have every reason to believe that ICE would carry on that tradition of abuse, retaliation, and medical neglect. The prison was closed for good reason and should remain closed.”
Another survivor, identified as Ana, shared her harrowing experience of enduring sexual abuse at FCI Dublin, only to be transferred to an ICE detention center upon release. In a written statement read at the rally, she recounted how a prison guard exploited her immigration status, assuming she would be deported and he would never be held accountable.
“After I was finally free from the hell of FCI Dublin, I was taken to another hell, a private ICE detention center,” Ana wrote. “I am finally home with my children and trying to heal from what the U.S. government did to me. I don’t want anyone to live through what I lived through, in a BOP prison or an ICE jail. FCI Dublin must stay closed forever.”
Speakers at the protest drew direct parallels between the abuses at FCI Dublin and those within the broader U.S. immigration detention system. Saiyez, another survivor who was held in ICE detention at Otay Mesa Detention Center in San Diego for seven months, condemned the expansion of immigrant incarceration.
“No one should have to live in fear of expulsion,” he said. “ICE detention centers are part of the terrible tradition of internment camps based on racial prejudice, wartime hysteria, and a failure of political leadership. Everyone, including people who are not U.S. citizens, is entitled to fair legal proceedings and protections against the arbitrary denial of life, liberty, or property.”
Dr. Satsuki Ina, co-founder of Tsuru for Solidarity and a survivor of U.S. internment camps during World War II, warned that today’s immigration detention mirrors past injustices.
“The Trump administration is proposing to detain an additional 84,000 people at any given time, bringing the total number of people in immigration detention to over 120,000—roughly the number of Japanese Americans incarcerated in detention camps during World War II,” Ina said. “The same Enemy Aliens Act of 1798 and racist rhetoric is being used to target immigrants for removal today—removing us from our homes, jobs, schools, and farms.”
The rally also highlighted the case of Ulises Lopez, a 30-year-old Bay Area resident with life-threatening health conditions who was reportedly brutalized by ICE agents during an unlawful arrest on February 21. His family’s statement, read aloud at the protest, described his hospitalization and subsequent transfer to Golden State Annex, an ICE detention center in McFarland, California.
“We cannot stand by and allow ICE to treat our loved ones like this,” the statement read. “Ulises has rights, and we demand that ICE stop their attacks on him and our community.”
FCI Dublin’s closure came after years of advocacy and litigation that exposed a pattern of sexual violence, retaliation, and unsafe living conditions. Survivors and legal advocates documented extreme environmental hazards, including asbestos, black mold, leaks, sewage overflows, and water contamination. Bureau of Prisons (BOP) Director William Lothrop testified in court that the prison requires “tens of millions of dollars” in repairs—work that has not been done.
Despite these damning findings, ICE has reportedly toured the facility twice in recent weeks, raising fears that the agency intends to reopen the site for immigration detention. Protesters argue that any such move would subject detainees to the same inhumane conditions that led to the prison’s closure.
The Dublin Prison Solidarity Coalition, a network of former FCI Dublin prisoners and their supporters, has been at the forefront of the fight to ensure the prison remains closed. Their work has included legal action, public education, and advocacy for survivors, culminating in a historic class-action lawsuit and settlement that was officially approved in court this past Tuesday.
The coalition, along with a growing number of lawmakers and advocacy groups, is demanding that the Trump administration take immediate action to prevent the repurposing of FCI Dublin for immigrant detention and to continue shutting down ICE detention centers across California.
