CALIFORNIA CITY, Calif. (KERO) — More than 50 protesters gathered outside California City Hall Tuesday as the planning commission denied an appeal challenging the city's approval of a site plan review for its ICE detention center.
Protesters held signs featuring people who died while in ICE custody, calling for the facility to be closed permanently. Demonstrators came from California City and from across the state.
Reverend Deborah Lee said:
"I think that we're also here to say there is a different way as a country, that we approach immigration. People can go through the courts and have their hearings; they don't have to be locked up in a cage. We can treat people like human beings. And we believe towns like this in California City, there is another way also."
The protest carried into Tuesday night's planning commission meeting, where an appeal filed by the Dignity Not Detention Coalition challenged the city's approval of a site plan review for the detention center.
The coalition argued immigration detention is a different land use that should require additional city approvals.
The appellant said:
"Under any interpretation of the ordinance, the approval before you cannot stand. If immigration detention is not an allowed use, then the site plan review minor conflicts with zoning ordinance."
City planning staff disagreed, saying the project involved no new construction, no expansion, and met the city's objective zoning requirements.
After hearing hours of public comment, the planning commission voted 2 to 1 to deny the appeal, upholding the planning director's approval of the site plan review.
The decision came just days after CoreCivic sold the 2,560-bed detention center to the U.S. Department of Homeland Security. CoreCivic says it expects to continue operating the facility under its contract with ICE.
California City Mayor Marquette Hawkins said the change in ownership is not expected to significantly impact the city's finances, but officials are already looking at options.
Hawkins said:
"There is an opportunity to have those discussions of what revenue can be generated still, to sort of make up for any potential losses that the city may have."
This story was reported on-air by a journalist and has been converted to this platform with the assistance of AI. Our editorial team verifies all reporting on all platforms for fairness and accuracy.
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