A bill pending in the Legislature would ensure more transparency over conditions in facilities like the California City Immigration Processing Center. Photo: Miguel Vasconcellos
Journalists who have covered immigration detention know how incredibly difficult it can be to report on such a frustratingly opaque system — even as it affects the lives of tens of thousands of people across the country who are being held on any given day. Requests for public information from the federal government are often delayed or require litigation to be successful. Frequently, even basic questions go unanswered by officials.
At FAC we’ve been working to try and shed some light on this system as part of our mission to ensure the public’s right to know what our government is doing. Last year, we published a reporter’s field guide to covering immigration enforcement, which includes a primer on covering the privately run immigration detention facilities across California. We’ve also presented in-person and virtual training to journalists reporting on immigration enforcement and detention.
This summer, we co-sponsored California legislation that would help shed more light on what is happening inside our state’s privately run immigration detention facilities by requiring local agencies to disclose 911 calls and related records about the centers..
SB 423 was introduced by Sen. Lena Gonzalez in June. I wrote about the bill and why a change to state law is vital to help illuminate a system that has long avoided transparency in an op-ed published by CalMatters. I hope you’ll give it a read.