Feds Buy Two CoreCivic Detention Centers for $1.5 Billion — Otay Mesa & California City, CA

DHS bought two CoreCivic-owned Southern California immigration detention centers for a combined $1.5 billion: the Otay Mesa Detention Center in San Diego County for $739.2 million and the California City Detention Facility in Kern County for $732.6 million. CoreCivic will keep running day-to-day operations under its existing ICE contracts. The purchase, enabled by detention funding in the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, sidesteps California laws phasing out privately owned detention facilities.