Appeals Court strikes down California plan to shut down ICE detention facilities

The United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit Monday struck down California’s plan to close down private prisons operated by Immigration Custom Enforcement (ICE), which were largely used by migrants.

In an 8-3 decision, the Ninth Circuit ruled that California’s ban gave them too much control over federal government operations. 

According to Breitbart News, the law, AB 32, made it illegal for any private company to own and operate a detention facility in the state of California.

The court acknowledged that the federal government relies almost exclusively on detention centers, which ae ran by the GEO Group and other companies, and these centers would have to be closed down if AB32 remained in effect.

The court said in their ruling that “Under the direct supervision of Congress, Immigration and Customs Enforcement conducts extensive detention operations. A substantial part of these are carried out in California. To maintain its flexibility, ICE is almost entirely dependent on private detention facilities.”

They later added, “AB 32 would override the federal government’s decision, pursuant to discretion conferred by Congress, to use private contractors to run its immigration detention facilities. It would give California a ‘virtual power of review’ over ICE’s detention decisions, and allow the ‘discretion of the federal officers [to] be exercised . . . only if the [state] approves.’ …Whether analyzed under intergovernmental immunity or preemption, California cannot exert this level of control over the federal government’s detention operations.”

Dale Wilcox, who works for the Immigration Reform Law Institute (IRLI), praising the ruling in a statement.

“We applaud the full court for recognizing that the intended effect of this law — to end federal detention of aliens in California — is what makes it unconstitutional,” Wilcox said. “Under our Constitution, a state may not interfere with — much less cancel — federal immigration law enforcement, and we are pleased that California’s law attempting to do just that is no more.”

In 2021, several sanctuary states followed California’s lead in attempting to ban ICE detention centers statewide, Breitbart reports. Such states included New Jersey, Illinois, Washington, New York, and Maryland.