SACRAMENTO, Calif. — Amid growing criticism of federal immigration enforcement practices and recent ICE detentions, Assembly Member Alex Lee is seeking passage of AB 1675, the No Tax Breaks for ICE Contractors Act, according to a recent Sacramento County press release supporting the legislation.
The press release backing Lee’s proposal detailed what it described as increasingly aggressive ICE detention practices throughout the United States and framed the legislation as an effort to prevent state tax dollars from benefiting corporations involved in immigration detention operations.
Lee’s proposed legislation would block corporations that contract with immigration enforcement agencies from receiving certain California tax incentives. According to the release, “The bill cancels tax breaks for any companies that contract with the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and its immigration enforcement agencies.”
“ICE must be abolished and its rogue elements prosecuted. The No Tax Breaks For ICE Contractors Act ensures that public dollars are not enriching corporations that enable ICE’s lawless violence. Corporate America must make a choice: collaborate with ICE and lose their tax breaks, or stand on the right side of history,” the release stated.
The release further alleged that ICE agents have detained individuals without judicial warrants while “tearing families apart, and locking up people in overcrowded, decrepit detention centers run by private prison operators.”
According to the release, several major private prison corporations have recently expanded their detention capacity despite allegations that “inside ICE’s privately-run detention facilities, detainees have sounded the alarm of human rights abuses and inhumane conditions.”
Following that expansion, Lee has called for increased public oversight of immigration detention centers, citing what supporters describe as abusive conditions within the facilities.
According to the release, “ICE and its corporate profiteers are locking up tens of thousands of people without any regard for human dignity. They’re warehousing children and pregnant women in detention camps, while masked agents are violently kidnapping innocent people without warrants and executing American citizens.”
The release specifically criticized private prison operators CoreCivic and GEO Group.
“As corporate executives boast skyrocketing revenues, detainees have described CoreCivic’s California City facility as ‘hell on earth’ without adequate food, medical care, and hygiene supplies,” the release stated.
“The detention center in Adelanto, San Bernardino County, run by Geo Group, is one of the deadliest facilities in the nation. Amid widespread medical neglect, deaths in ICE custody are projected to surpass fatality rates during COVID-19,” the release added.
The release also highlighted the financial growth of corporations involved in immigration detention, stating, “By the fourth quarter of 2025, the firm reported the total revenue from ICE to be $244.7 million, up from $120.3 million.”
Under AB 1675, “companies that contract with DHS, ICE, Customs and Border Protection, and the Management Directorate [will] be ineligible for a number of state tax credits,” according to the release. Those tax incentives would include the Research Credit, California Competes credit and the New Employment Credit.
Rather than directing tax benefits to corporations tied to immigration detention operations, the proposed legislation would instead “direct additional revenues generated towards funding immigrant legal aid.”
The release also referenced AB 1801, which it said has already passed the Assembly floor. According to the release, the bill “ensures that people have adequate time to organize and voice their concerns before their local government approves any new contracts with detention facilities.”
The release noted that AB 1675 has already passed the Appropriations Committee and is now headed to the Assembly floor for further review.
Follow the Vanguard on Social Media – X, Instagram and Facebook. Subscribe the Vanguard News letters. To make a tax-deductible donation, please visit davisvanguard.org/donate or give directly through ActBlue. Your support will ensure that the vital work of the Vanguard continues.
