BAKERSFIELD, Calif. (KERO) — Community advocates and California lawmakers are renewing calls for greater oversight and improved conditions at local immigration detention facilities, as Kern County public health officials confirm they have not conducted health inspections at the ICE detention center in California City.
“We’ve increasingly been hearing from constituents, from families of folks who have been detained, about concerns of the conditions in a lot of these facilities,” Senator Alex Padilla said.
Those concerns — including reports of poor-quality drinking water, moldy food and inadequate access to medical care — were raised during a recent visit by U.S. Sens. Padilla and Adam Schiff to the CoreCivic-operated ICE detention facility in California City.
Schiff said the visit underscored the limits of informal oversight.
“It should be more than just the two of us coming out to a detention facility without the power of a subpoena,” he said.
The issues highlighted during the visit are not new. In October, members of the public appeared before the Kern County Board of Supervisors to read statements from detainees describing alleged conditions inside the facility.
“It is time. Events are upon you. You have egregious violations of human rights that you must deal with in your own county,” one speaker said during the meeting.
Following those public comments, Kern County Public Health was asked about its authority to inspect immigration detention facilities under Senate Bill 1132, which took effect in 2024. At the time, the department said it was committed to protecting the health and safety of all community members, including people in detention facilities, and planned to expand its inspection efforts to include facilities newly covered under the law.
Public health officials said they were working to incorporate detention facilities into their existing inspection process and update procedures, noting they were in the early stages of planning and hoped to begin inspections in early 2026.
After Padilla and Schiff’s visit Tuesday, the department was again asked whether it had conducted any inspections at the California City ICE facility or planned to do so. In response, Kern County Public Health said it has not conducted any inspections at the detention center.
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