On June 30, two Kern Sol News reporters visited the Golden State Annex detention facility located in McFarland. The facility is an annex to the Mesa Verde detention facility in Bakersfield and has been in operation since 2020.
The new detention center is the fourth in Kern County and the second facility to open in the rural community of McFarland. With just a few months since its opening, many individuals from Texas, Florida, and the Golden State Annex have been transferred.
Previously, we visited the California City detention facility, owned and operated by CoreCivic, and the differences were vast. At this facility, visits are conducted face-to-face, allowing loved ones the opportunity to have physical contact with detainees. In contrast, visits at California City are conducted through a soundproof pane of glass using a telephone, which has its own limitations.
We were allowed to meet with Jose Beltran Amya, a detainee from El Salvador who immigrated to the United States in 2023 and has been detained for the last 15 months. Beltran said he was stopped on his way to work at Titan Food Inc., a food factory located in Commerce, California. He lived in Los Alamitos, California, roughly a 15-minute drive from Commerce, in a two-bedroom home with his brother and his brother’s family.
While he was stopped, he said immigration officials claimed he had an arrest warrant in El Salvador and detained him. However, the charges were never made clear to Beltran. Immigration officials let his brother go. At first, he was detained in Adelanto and was then transferred to Golden State Annex, where he was officially deported. He says that he is now awaiting his extradition, although he has attempted to find a legal loophole that would allow him to remain in the United States.
Initially, his family hired a lawyer for $4,000, but the legal responsibility eventually fell on Beltran, and he said the lawyer was not helpful in any capacity. Eventually, the lawyer stopped returning calls, and his family members could no longer help him. If he is deported, he said that he will have to go to prison in El Salvador.
Beltran is a 28-year-old man and has three sons. His oldest is 11 years old and lives with his mother in New York. His second son is 6 years old and lives with his mother in El Salvador, and his youngest is 20 months old and lives with his mother in Santa Ana.
During his time at Golden State Annex, he noted that he prays every night and attends religious services whenever possible. He frequently wears his rosary around his neck as a form of protection. He also mentioned that, whenever possible, he sends letters to his children, often drawing animated characters such as Winnie the Pooh and Mickey Mouse.
Beltran said he was ordered to be deported two months ago and is trying to file an appeal. He noted that life in El Salvador was not easy, which is why he made the 15-day journey to the United States in hopes of building a better life.
For Francisco Lopez Avina, a 42-year-old Mexican national, his 15-year-old daughter, Brisela Lopez, is the sole reason he has not self-deported back to his country of origin. Lopez said he has been in the United States since 2000, with a prior history of being here since 1993. His journey to the States began at the early age of fourteen, coming back and forth a few times a year to work and send money back home to a small town in Jalisco. Lopez said it wasn’t until 2000 that he decided to stay in California permanently after meeting his daughter’s mother in Northern California. Lopez has not returned to Mexico since then, noting that he wanted to be part of his daughter’s life and provide for her.
Before being detained in March of last year, Lopez worked in construction in the Bay Area and frequently held many other jobs. A handyman at best, he built and repaired, and he also served as the neighborhood’s mechanic. Almost all the time, other residents in the area observed him working on his two classic trucks in the street and would approach him to ask him to repair their cars. Lopez explained that he rarely charged these neighbors more than $100 for labor because he realized how expensive they were being charged at local shops. He said it wasn’t about the money for him; it was more about being given the option to help those in need.
Lopez is the middle child of seven, with five sisters and one brother, most of whom live near San Francisco. One of his sisters, Rosa Lopez Avina, was also recently detained, but unlike her brother, she is in California City and will most likely self-deport back to Mexico. His sister was picked up and sent to Cal City after one of her routine check-ins with ICE. Lopez said that he has been unable to contact her and doesn’t know how.
“If it weren’t for my daughter, I would’ve signed to self-deport as well. It’s hard being held inside these facilities,” Lopez said.
Lopez briefly recalled feeling distraught after being detained outside his home in San Francisco on his way to work. He mentioned that Immigration officers presented him with a warrant for his arrest, but he didn’t read it or resist his apprehension. Lopez also mentioned that because he didn’t know how to read, he didn’t give the warrant a second glance. Since his detention, Lopez said he has been denied a court hearing but has filed a habeas corpus petition with assistance from other men in the detention center. He said that he will be deported back to Mexico, but hopes that through the habeas corpus, it will allow him to remain here a bit longer, with just enough time to hopefully reunite with his daughter.
Lopez said Brisela and her father talk almost weekly, and each time she reminds Lopez of these simple words: “I don’t want my daddy to leave, don’t go.”
Lopez now spends his time inside Dorm B, making, selling, and sending rosaries to the other men and their families at the Central Valley Annex Detention Center. He said that he typically sends his rosaries to his daughter so she can sell them and make a few dollars. Lopez said this was the only way he had been able to provide for her since his detention. Additionally, he mentioned that this was his first time in the Central Valley, as he had never traveled outside Northern California.
