BILL ANALYSIS Ó
SENATE COMMITTEE ON APPROPRIATIONS
Senator Ricardo Lara, Chair
2015 - 2016 Regular Session
SB 1289 (Lara) - Law enforcement: immigration
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|Version: April 11, 2016 |Policy Vote: JUD. 5 - 2 |
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|Urgency: No |Mandate: No |
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|Hearing Date: May 16, 2016 |Consultant: Jolie Onodera |
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This bill meets the criteria for referral to the Suspense File.
Bill
Summary: SB 1289 would prohibit local law enforcement agencies
and local governments from contracting with for-profit entities
to detain immigrants on behalf of federal immigration
authorities. This bill would authorize the Attorney General, a
district attorney or city attorney to bring a civil action for
injunctive and other appropriate equitable relief and seek a
civil penalty of $25,000, as specified, when an immigrant
detention facility deprives an immigrant detainee of his or her
rights, as specified.
Fiscal
Impact:
Attorney General (AG) : Potentially significant workload
increase (General Fund) should the AG choose to bring civil
actions for injunctive and other equitable relief, offset in
part by civil penalty revenues. To the extent the number and
complexity of cases brought forward is significant, costs
could rise into the hundreds of thousands of dollars annually.
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Local prosecutors : Potentially significant non-reimbursable
local costs (Local Funds) to bring civil actions for
injunctive and other equitable relief, offset in part by civil
penalty revenues.
Local governments/agencies : Potentially significant loss of
future revenue (Local Funds) due to the inability to contract
with for-profit entities for immigrant detention services. To
the extent a local law enforcement agency opts to detain
immigrants in its facilities through a direct contract with
the federal government, the agency could incur potentially
significant non-reimbursable costs (Local Funds) to ensure
immigrant detainee rights as prescribed are met.
Private contractors/vendors : Unknown, potentially major costs
(private funds) to adhere to the specified standards and
processes for detainee transfers and rights to counsel,
translators, interpreters, and medical care as outlined in the
bill.
Background: Existing law authorizes a county board of supervisors on
behalf of its sheriff, and a legislative body of a city on
behalf of its chief of police, to contract to provide
supplemental law enforcement services to private individuals,
private entities, and private corporations in specified
circumstances and subject to certain conditions.
As stated in the Senate Committee on Judiciary analysis of this
measure: In California, and around the country, for-profit
detention facilities are increasingly relied upon to detain
immigrants who are oftentimes eligible for Asylum, Special
Immigrant Juvenile Status immigration relief, Victims of Crime
Visas (U-Visas), Victims of Human Trafficking Visas (T-Visas),
or other forms of immigration relief. Additionally, a few local
government and local law enforcement entities choose to enter
into agreements with federal immigration authorities to detain
immigrants in their county or city jails on behalf of the
federal immigration authorities.
For-profit detention facilities are accountable to their
shareholders and not the people of the State of California.
Oftentimes, immigrants in immigrant detention facilities are
escaping persecution in their countries of origin and in need of
special care due to their persecution or because they have
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suffered arduous journeys as unaccompanied children. Ensuring
that immigrants are provided with the services they need to heal
oftentimes is in contrast to corporate interests. Because these
facilities are private, they routinely claim exemptions to the
California's Public Records Act and the federal Freedom of
Information Act. Despite the lack of access to records through
these acts, there have been reports of inadequate medical care,
suicide attempts, sexual assault, and even deaths at for-profit
immigrant detention facilities. Somewhat perversely, because
immigration detention is technically a civil form of
confinement, immigrants in immigrant detention facilities lack
many of the safeguards of the criminal justice system, including
access to counsel.
Local government and law enforcement entities that choose to
contract with immigration authorities to detain immigrants are
to adhere to national immigration detention standards,
promulgated by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE)
regardless of whether they detain the immigrants in their local
jails or contract their immigrant detention duties out to
private for-profit corporations. But many detainees have
reported experiencing deplorable conditions at city and county
immigrant detention facilities in violation of the national
standards. No meaningful enforcement mechanism currently exists
to hold immigration detention facilities accountable, whether
for-profit or run by local governmental agency, when they
violate immigrant detainees' rights.
Proposed Law:
This bill would prohibit local governments or local law
enforcement agencies from entering into or renewing a contract,
or modifying a contract to extend the length of the contract,
with a private corporation, contractor or vendor to detain
immigrants for profit, on behalf of the Department of Homeland
Security (DHS), Office of Refugee Resettlement, or the United
States Marshals Service. Additionally, this bill:
Provides that if an immigrant detention facility chooses to
enter into a contract to detain immigrants in civil
immigration proceedings, it shall detain immigrants only
pursuant to a contract that requires the entity contracting
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with DHS or other federal agency to adhere to the standards
for detaining those individuals described in the 2011
Operations Manual ICE Performance-Based National Detention
Standards, as corrected and clarified in 2013.
Prohibits immigrant detention facilities, their agents, or
those acting on their behalf from depriving immigrant
detainees of (1) access to legal representation; (2) access to
translator or interpretation services; (3) medical care; (4)
freedom from harm or harassment; or (5) privacy.
Requires immigrant detention facilities to complete enumerated
activities when an immigrant detainee is transferred to ensure
that there is no delay, disruption, or denial of medical
treatment, after or before detainee transfer.
Prohibits the involuntary placement of an immigration detainee
in segregated housing because of the detainee's actual or
perceived gender, gender identity, gender expression, or
sexual orientation.
Requires immigrant detention facilities to have a Legal
Orientation Program, as specified, that includes an
orientation on immigration removal proceedings and forms of
relief, distribution of self-help materials, provision of
private and individual consultations with unrepresented
detainees to discuss their cases, and referrals to pro bono
legal services.
Authorizes the Attorney General, any district attorney, or
city attorney to bring a civil action for injunctive and other
appropriate equitable relief in the name of the people of the
State of California and seek a civil penalty of $25,000, as
specified, when an immigrant detention facility, or its agent
or person acting on its behalf deprives an immigrant detainee
of his or her rights, as specified.
Authorizes any individual who has been deprived of his or her
rights to bring a civil action for damages, including, but not
limited to, damages, injunctive and other appropriate
equitable relief, when an immigrant detention facility, its
agent or person acting on its behalf deprives an immigrant
detainee of his or her rights, as specified.
Requires that if a civil penalty is requested by the Attorney
General, a district attorney, or city attorney, the civil
penalty shall be assessed individually against each person who
is determined to have violated the legal rights of a detained
immigrant and awarded to each individual whose rights are
determined to be violated.
Provides that the court may award the petitioner or plaintiff
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reasonable attorney's fees and costs in addition to any
damages, injunction, or other equitable relief.
Includes related legislative findings and declarations.
Staff
Comments: The office of the Attorney General has indicated
potentially significant costs to address an increase in workload
should be bill be enacted. Additional workload would include the
cost of additional staffing to complete the drafting of
pleadings, discovery, and extensive legal research required for
these cases.
By prohibiting local governments and law enforcement agencies
from contracting with for-profit entities to detain immigrants
on behalf of federal immigration authorities, this bill could
result in some degree of lost revenue to local entities. For
example, based on information reported by the Community
Initiatives for Visiting Immigrants in Confinement (CIVIC), an
intergovernmental service agreement (IGSA) that utilizes the
City of Adelanto for a contract between the GEO Group and ICE
for immigrant detention at the Adelanto Detention Facility,
could potentially result in lost revenue to the City of nearly
$228,000 (based on a flat administrative fee of $50,000 per year
for the facility and a reimbursement rate of $0.75 per person
per day for 650 persons).
Staff notes the provisions of this measure do not prohibit an
IGSA between a local entity and the federal government, should a
local government entity, such as a law enforcement agency,
choose to detain immigrants on behalf of the federal government.
By prohibiting the practice of subcontracting with for-profit
entities for use of its facilities, a direct contract between a
law enforcement agency and the federal government to detain
immigrants in its own local facilities could result in
significant costs to local agencies to ensure immigrant detainee
rights as prescribed in the bill are met. It is unclear to what
degree the existing pressure on the capacity of local jails
would be impacted by this bill, but as previously noted, the
detention of immigrants on behalf of the federal immigration
authorities is optional. To the extent local agencies do not
have sufficient capacity or resources, local agencies could
choose not to enter into such agreements.
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