ICE Quietly Opens Another Detention Center in a Former California Prison

ICE activated the 700-bed Central Valley Annex in McFarland in late April 2026, bringing California’s total ICE detention footprint to eight facilities. The site — operated by GEO Group in a former state prison GEO ran until California ended its private-prison contracts — opened without public hearings, despite a state law requiring 180 days’ notice and community input before any detention-facility conversion. Immigrant-rights advocate Edwin Carmona-Cruz warned detainees “are at risk of the same terrible abuses” documented in adjacent GEO facilities, including medical neglect and inadequate conditions. Two of California’s eight ICE detention centers have now opened since President Trump took office in 2025, both in former state prisons.