California attorney general reports 162% rise in ICE detainee population

California Attorney General Rob Bonta on Friday released a report documenting a 162% surge in ICE detainee populations at the state's privately-operated detention facilities since 2023, along with widespread failures including inadequate medical care, overcrowding and excessive use of force.

The findings represent the sharpest documented increase since California began state-level inspections of ICE facilities in 2017, and place new pressure on federal contractors and private operators to address conditions the state says fall below the agency's own detention standards.

"Since our 2023 inspections, there has been a 162% surge," Bonta said Friday, according to ABC7 Los Angeles. He attributed the increase to federal enforcement policy: "This has been driven in large part by the Trump administration's aggressive and inhumane mass deportation campaign, including its refusal to release detainees on bond."

The report recorded six deaths at California ICE facilities between September 2025 and March 2026 — the highest tally in any comparable period since the state began its facility review program in 2017.

Bonta said the state benchmarked facilities against the agency's own rules rather than external standards. "The metrics that we used to evaluate these centers are ICE's own self-imposed detention standards and they continue to fail to meet their own standards," he said.

The attorney general directed sharp criticism at the use of private contractors. "This is the federal government paying for-profit private companies to run these detention centers, and they are running these detention centers with inhumane, cruel and unacceptable conditions," Bonta said.

Bonta framed the report as a public accountability measure. "So we want to tell Americans how their tax dollars are being spent," he said.

Department of Justice staff toured seven of California's eight ICE facilities and interviewed 194 detained individuals as part of inspections conducted in 2025, according to the report.

The number of privately-operated ICE facilities in California has risen to eight since the state's last inspection cycle, as federal immigration enforcement expanded under the Trump administration.