Attorney General Bonta Continues to Oppose Conditions of Confinement at Adelanto Detention Center

OAKLAND — California Attorney General Rob Bonta on Wednesday refiled an amicus brief opposing the conditions of confinement at Adelanto ICE Processing Center (Adelanto), one of the largest immigration detention centers in the United States. Since the Trump Administration launched its indiscriminate mass deportation campaign, it has apprehended thousands of people and subjected them to long periods of detention in inhumane conditions with inadequate medical care, while failing to enforce its own applicable detention standards. On March 18, 2026, Attorney General Bonta filed an amicus brief in support of plaintiffs’ first preliminary injunction motion and that motion was denied without prejudice. Since then, the California Department of Justice (DOJ) has released the fifth Immigrant Detention Facilities (IDF) report published on May 15, 2026, as part of a statutory mandate pursuant to Assembly Bill (AB) 103. In the amicus brief supporting the plaintiffs’ latest motion for preliminary injunction, Attorney General Bonta provides California DOJ's findings on inhumane conditions at Adelanto and explains to the court that the public interest favors preliminary and permanent relief to prevent further harm.

“Detainees at Adelanto are facing punitive detention conditions, inadequate medical care, poor nutrition, and concerning uses of pepper spray — enough is enough,” said Attorney General Bonta. “The decline of detainees’ health and well-being has intensified due to the Trump Administration’s relentless pursuit of immigration enforcement and detention. It is cruel and unacceptable, and it is past time for ICE to start following the law. Our office is deeply troubled by these conditions, and we remain committed to ensuring the treatment of those within California is constitutional and humane.”

AB 103 was created in response to increased immigration enforcement in the first Trump Administration and growing concerns regarding conditions in immigration detention facilities within California — including three deaths at Adelanto in 2017. AB 103 authorizes the Attorney General to conduct reviews and provide periodic reports on conditions of confinement, standard of care, and how conditions of confinement affect the due process provided to detainees. Since AB 103 took effect, California DOJ has published five reports on conditions at California facilities, including Adelanto, finding substandard conditions in a number of areas that fail to meet ICE’s own detention standards.

In the amicus brief, Attorney General Bonta highlights the alarming conditions that California DOJ identified and documented at the Adelanto ICE Processing Center in the Fifth Immigration Detention Facilities Report, including:

• Insufficient staffing: Staffing levels have not kept pace with the needs created by the dramatic surge in apprehension and confinement of detainees — from seven individuals in 2023 to 1,570 in 2025 — while facility conditions simultaneously deteriorated.
• Inadequate medical access: Detainees have been unable to access requested medical appointments or receive necessary and timely medical treatment, including emergency medical care, contributing to preventable medical crises.
• Lack of medical care follow-ups: Detainees with chronic and acute medical conditions are not consistently receiving necessary referrals for follow-up medical care, either within the facility or with outside medical providers.
• Unsafe food and water: Detainees reported improperly cooked food and meals being served at irregular times, and murky drinking water was witnessed by the California DOJ team coming out of the tap in the women’s housing unit.
• Failure to provide basic necessities: Detainees across housing units reported receiving only one pair of underwear and uniform while living in extremely unsanitary conditions.
• Use of force concerns: There were multiple reported incidents of facility staff using pepper spray against detainees, including against those experiencing mental health episodes.
• Due process barriers: Detainees were denied access to facility phones for prolonged periods while other detainees were being transferred or deported from Adelanto, impeding detainees’ ability to contact family members and legal counsel.
• Poor Recordkeeping: Poor maintenance of records, including incomplete and missing classification records, contributed to several issues at Adelanto.

Despite multiple inspections and reports documenting concerns regarding conditions at Adelanto, four men died between September 2025 and March 2026.

Attorney General Bonta is committed to providing members of the public and policymakers with critical information about the conditions that people in civil immigration detention in California are subjected to. Last month, Attorney General Bonta released California DOJ’s fifth report on cruel, inhumane, and unacceptable conditions at immigration detention facilities operating in California. He also sent a letter to the U.S. Department of Homeland Security last year shining a light on dangerous conditions at the recently reopened California City Detention Facility.