California lawmakers debate sending local health inspectors into immigration facilities
An LA-based senator says many immigrant detainees live in substandard conditions with diseases sweeping through detention facilities.
By Vanessa G. Sánchez, California Healthline
Covid-19, mumps, and chickenpox outbreaks. Contaminated water, moldy food, and air ducts spewing black dust.
These health threats have been documented inside privately run immigration detention facilities in California through lawsuits, federal and state audits, and complaints lodged by detainees themselves.
But local public health officers who routinely inspect county jails and state prisons say they don’t have the authority under state law to inspect detention centers operated by private companies, including all six federal immigration centers in California.
