The First Amendment Coalition is co-sponsoring legislation to bring more transparency to immigration detention operations in California.
SB 423, the Detention Facility Transparency Act, introduced by Sen. Lena Gonzalez, D-Long Beach, would amend the California Public Records Act to require local agencies to release records related to 911 and other emergency service calls from private detention facilities, where the number of people in detention has soared amid the aggressive federal enforcement campaign. This bill is an urgently needed reform to ensure that the public, journalists, policymakers, and state and local officials have access to critical information. Despite existing Public Records Act protections for the public release of 911 calls for service, some agencies deny requests.
For example, a 2026 CalMatters investigation found a rise in reports of rape and other sexual violence at the Otay Mesa Detention Center in San Diego County. The limited amount of public records made available showed that in 2025 there were 159 calls for service, with 21 of them relating to the federal Prison Rape Elimination Act, and seven of those alleging rape. When journalists tried to uncover more information, the sheriff’s department refused to release recordings of the 911 calls or the full dispatch logs, stating they were exempt as records of a law enforcement investigation, even though a contract revealed that the sheriff had ceded control of the investigations to private administrators employed by the for-profit prison contractor. Reporters at other news organizations have experienced similar barriers to crucial information. The San Bernardino Sun this year reported a sixfold increase in 911 calls from Adelanto’s detention center. But when the reporter sought to understand specific incidents in greater detail, the sheriff’s department withheld the information. Meanwhile, other agencies have disclosed these records.
SB 423 addresses this gap by clarifying the public access requirements are mandatory rather than discretionary, while maintaining the existing right of access to other 911 records.
One dozen California and national press rights and journalism organizations have joined FAC’s support for this bill. The bill is co-sponsored with Immigrant Defense Advocates.
On Aug. 18, FAC and a coalition of 13 press organizations sent an updated support letter to Senate Judiciary Committee, one of the committees that could hear the bill.
READ MORE:
- Senator Lena Gonzalez’s Detention Facility Transparency Act Passes Assembly Appropriations Committee, Heads to Assembly Floor (8/13/2026)
- CalMatters op-ed: Californians have a right to know about 911 calls from ICE detention centers (7/22/2026)
- USA Today: California could force detention center emergency calls to be released (6/25/2026)
- Long Beach Post: California may force the release of 911 calls at immigration detention centers in an attempt to reveal human rights abuses (6/22/2026)