By Vanguard Staff
LOS ANGELES, CA — As federal immigration raids ramp up across California, advocates are calling on Governor Gavin Newsom to take decisive action to block Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) from repurposing shuttered state prisons as detention centers.
The advocacy coalition Californians United for a Responsible Budget (CURB) is demanding that Newsom fully decommission all deactivated prisons in California and enact legal safeguards to prevent their transfer to federal control. The warning comes as reports surface of ICE agents touring shuttered facilities, including FCI Dublin, which was closed following a major sexual abuse scandal, and California City Correctional Facility, formerly operated by private prison giant GEO Group.
“ICE is looking for cages, and California’s shuttered prisons, still funded and fortified, are ideal targets unless Governor Newsom takes immediate action to close them for good,” said Brian Kaneda, Deputy Director of CURB, a statewide coalition of over 100 organizations supporting decarceration and justice reinvestment.
Since 2021, Newsom has overseen the closure of three state prisons and terminated the state’s contract with the privately run California City facility—moves projected to save the state nearly $900 million annually. However, rather than fully decommissioning the facilities, the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation (CDCR) has maintained many of them under “warm shutdown,” a status that keeps them staffed, secured, and operationally viable despite being empty. This approach has already cost the state over $300 million.
That continued upkeep has now raised alarms, as ICE officials and private contractors like GEO Group appear to be targeting these sites for potential immigration detention use. Documents obtained by the ACLU confirm that GEO proposed reactivating California City Correctional Facility for ICE in late 2024. State-owned properties like Chuckawalla Valley State Prison remain vulnerable so long as they are funded but not formally closed.
“Warm shutdowns have never been neutral,” said Dax Proctor, CURB’s Statewide Coordinator. “They’re expensive liabilities that keep the door open for federal detention expansion. California cannot allow its hard-won progress on decarceration to be undone to expand ICE’s violence.”
Governor Newsom has publicly condemned the Trump administration’s deployment of federal agents in California and has filed legal challenges against the militarization of immigration enforcement. Advocates say it’s time for his administration to match those actions with structural protections.
CURB is urging the Newsom administration and state lawmakers to fully decommission all warm shutdown facilities by eliminating CDCR funding and removing them from operational planning. They are also calling for statutory and budgetary protections to prevent ICE or other carceral agencies from taking over these sites. The group is demanding that the state block the reactivation of FCI Dublin and California City by ICE and private prison contractors. Additionally, CURB wants to see at least two additional prison closures included in the final enacted state budget, with the resulting savings reinvested in housing, healthcare, reentry services, and migrant justice. Lastly, the coalition emphasizes the importance of supporting community-led reuse plans to transform closed prison sites into public resources.
According to CURB, CDCR could eliminate at least 10,000 empty prison beds without compromising safety or operations. This would enable further closures while accommodating temporary population increases due to Proposition 36 resentencing cases. The nonpartisan Legislative Analyst’s Office has projected that closing five more prisons could save the state over $1.5 billion annually.
“In a moment of deep fiscal strain and moral turmoil, every dollar spent on wasteful prison infrastructure is a dollar that should be spent on shielding our most vulnerable communities,” said Tannah Oppliger, an Assistant Coordinator with CURB.
“Governor Newsom has shown bold leadership,” Kaneda added. “This is another defining moment. Close the doors. Keep ICE out. Protect California’s future.”
