Outside California City Hall on Tuesday evening, members of the Rapid Response Network of Kern, immigration advocates, and community members gathered to honor lives lost in ICE detention and to renew their call for the City Council to close the CoreCivic Detention Center.

Before the meeting began, Riya Khan detailed what her mother has been experiencing while detained in California City. Khan said her 64-year-old mother, who has multiple health conditions, has been denied critical medications for several days while in detention. She described her mother struggling to breathe, with swollen and bruised legs, and said repeated requests for medical attention went largely unanswered. Some medications, including those for asthma and glaucoma, were still being withheld.

Khan described the harsh conditions inside the facility. 

“It’s freezing in there all the time. There are no sweaters. The women are taking the seams off the socks and putting them on their arms. The food has been really horrible. Mostly canned food, no fruits, no nutritional value. There’s not a lot of good outdoor space for them to get fresh air.”

She also described challenges with visitation, saying her family has faced repeated delays and was nearly denied access to see her mother until she insisted on being allowed in.

“My mom doesn’t have a criminal record. She is not a flight risk. She has been following the rules. She was taken during one of her regular check-ins. It’s confusing why she’s in there, other than that they’re just putting a bunch of people in there,” Khan said.

Khan added that the population in her mother’s ward had grown from 19 to 74 and that her mother is not the only detainee experiencing withheld medications.

A new lawsuit filed by the statewide coalition Dignity Not Detention claims that the CoreCivic Detention Center has been operating without proper permits since late August. The lawsuit seeks to hold both the city and CoreCivic accountable under California law and local ordinances.

During the meeting, Rosa Lopez, a volunteer with the Rapid Response Network of Kern, criticized what she described as the city’s lack of accountability in overseeing CoreCivic’s operations.

“Just hearing the questions and the conversation around this, it seems like you’re willing to do even the minimum required by state law,” Lopez said. “I’ve been here month after month because no one is above the law.”

She accused the council of failing to represent the community’s interests by allowing CoreCivic to operate without transparency or accountability. 

“We expect this from CoreCivic, but you were elected to represent the community, and you are failing,” Lopez said. “You gave in to CoreCivic’s illicit scheme to expand detention without transparency and without accountability.”

City officials stated that, in compliance with Senate Bill 29, the council must issue a 180-day public notice and conduct two public hearings before considering any permits for CoreCivic. Tuesday’s session was the first of the required meetings.

Lopez also raised concerns about the city’s compliance with Senate Bill 29. 

“It is unclear how public notice was posted or whether the community had sufficient notice,” she said, arguing that the city’s actions attempted “to bypass SB 29 by throwing confusing SB 29 language on tonight’s agenda.”

City officials said the council will next complete the bill’s remaining requirements and review CoreCivic’s pending application before deciding whether to approve or deny the company’s permits to operate.

“The community has both the moral and legal right to protect themselves from corporate greed, from abusive power, and unlawful detention expansion,” Lopez added. “You are accountable to the residents, not CoreCivic’s interests. Do not be intimidated. You have the power and the duty to act in our best interest.”

Another speaker, Brian Zady, of the L.A. chapter of Critical Resistance, highlighted the human toll of the detention center, including residents in his own community. 

“We have a little girl who’s been calling in afraid that her father is going to die because the conditions in there are so terrible,” said Zady.

He also described the struggles of a detainee named Jonathan, who has been unable to access necessary medical care following surgery. Zady concluded by framing the issue as a statewide concern.

“As long as this detention center is open, Californians are going to keep coming here. I’m urging you, please deny this contract,” he pleaded.

Marcela, representing the Detention Watch Network, emphasized the broader consequences of detention, including deaths in ICE facilities. She highlighted that 24 people have died in detention nationwide this year, including three in California, and pointed to the case of Sedawi, a 45-year-old immigrant from Ethiopia who died in an Arizona detention center. Marcela said the deaths are often not reported by ICE for days, with outside advocates only learning about them through detainees’ calls. 

“We’re asking you to take action to close this detention center down,” said Marcela.