Federal court says California ban on private ICE detention facilities is unconstitutional
A California law aimed at closing privately run immigration detention facilities in the state, including those run by the GEO Group, was ruled unconstitutional by a federal court Monday.(Irfan Khan / Los Angeles Times)
BY KEVIN RECTORSTAFF WRITER
SEPT. 26, 2022 5:12 PM PT
A California law banning private prisons and immigrant detention facilities in the state violates the U.S. Constitution when applied to facilities operated on behalf of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, a federal appellate court ruled Monday.
State officials said they were “deeply disappointed” in the decision.
The 11-judge panel of the U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals found that the 2019 law in question — Assembly Bill 32 — specifically violated the Constitution’s “Supremacy Clause,” which precludes states from interfering with the enforcement of federal laws.
The case began when the federal government and one of its contractors, GEO Group, each sued the state over the law and requested its implementation be halted through an injunction. Those requests were denied by a lower district court.
The appellate court Monday undid the lower court decision denying the injunction, and sent the case back to be reconsidered.
https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2022-09-26/court-says-california-ban-on-private-ice-detention-facilities-is-unconstitutional
