By admin 
The Assembly passed a bill Friday to impose an annual tax on private detention centers, sending the legislation to Gov. Gavin Newsom’s desk.
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Assembly Bill 1633 establishes the Private Detention Facility Tax Law, which would impose an annual 25% tax on operators of private detention centers. The money collected from the tax would be deposited into a “Due Process for All Fund” in the State Treasury, which would finance immigration-related services and support for communities impacted by detention centers.
The legislation passed by a 30-10 vote in the Senate Thursday and a 54-17 vote in the Assembly, both along party lines.
Assemblymember Matt Haney, D-San Francisco, said he authored the bill in reaction to reports of inadequate living conditions in California’s private immigration detention facilities. Allegations of insufficient medical care and lack of hygiene products, edible food and clean drinking water were among these concerns, according to Haney.
“For years, (Immigration and Customs Enforcement) has fueled a system that profits from human suffering and family separation, outsourcing detention to private corporations who rake in profits while people endure dangerous, inhumane conditions,” Haney said in a statement to The Sacramento Bee. “Corporations running these facilities are being paid hundreds of millions to detain people in cruelty right here in California, and it has to end.”
The legislation comes shortly after two private detention facilities opened in California, bringing the state’s total to eight. The California City Immigration Processing Center, which opened in August 2025, is California’s largest immigrant detention facility with 2,560 beds. This April, for-profit prison company Geo Group opened the 700-bed Central Valley Annex facility in McFarland, Calif.
The construction of new detention centers in California is part of President Donald Trump’s nationwide effort to expand ICE arrests and detentions. The Trump administration announced a $45 billion expansion of detention facilities nationwide in February.
“What we’re seeing across the country shows the real-world consequences of ICE’s unchecked power, putting communities and lives at risk for profit with zero accountability,” Haney said.
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Opponents to the legislation have said imposing a tax on detention facilities would impede the activities of federal law enforcement officials. Assemblymember Carl DeMaio, R-San Diego, voiced his dissent in a May 27 Assembly floor hearing, saying the measure would lead to the closure of immigration detention facilities.
“It unfairly smears and defames the good men and women of federal law enforcement who are just doing their jobs,” DeMaio said. “Not only are you not helping get the criminals out of these communities, you’re gonna release them back into the communities for them to re-commit crimes.”
However, the bill’s supporters maintain the tax would only apply to private civil detention facilities, which do not hold individuals charged with crimes. While the bill would likely impose a fiscal burden on detention facilities, it does not mandate their closure.
“People continue to be detained…with no meaningful end in sight,” said Assemblymember Juan Carrillo, D-Palmdale, during the hearing. “AB 1633 says that if corporations are going to operate detention facilities in California and generate massive revenues from them, they should help pay for the harm and public cost created in our communities.”
The bill has the support of over 100 organizations, including legal aid groups, immigrant rights advocates and community alliances. The bill is co-sponsored by the California Immigrant Policy Center and Services Immigrant Rights Education Network, who advocate for the human rights of detained individuals.
“People have shared stories about their loved ones being denied medical care…and not being able to receive healthy food or adequate water inside the detention centers,” said Shiu-Ming Cheer, deputy director of immigrant and racial justice at the California Immigrant Policy Center. “These facilities are being operated with little to no accountability…it’s really unacceptable. California can and hopefully will do more through this bill to ensure that we protect the rights of Californians.”
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