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AG Bonta calls ICE’s Adelanto detention facility a ‘ticking timebomb’

March 19, 2026

California Attorney General Rob Bonta is weighing in on alleged “inhumane” conditions inside the Adelanto ICE Processing Center. The center holds about 1,800 people, who are being held for alleged immigration law violations.

“The inhumane and punitive conditions of confinement inside Adelanto Detention Center demand immediate attention and urgent action by the Trump administration,” Bonta is quoted as saying in a press release issued by his office on Thursday.

On Wednesday, March 18, Bonta filed an amicus, or friend of the court, brief in a lawsuit filed on Jan. 26 by the Coalition for Humane Immigrant Rights against the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, former Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem, and others.

Bonta cited the California Department of Justice’s inspections of the high desert facility, under 2017’s Assembly Bill 103.

“During our inspections at Adelanto, my team witnessed shockingly inadequate medical care, a failure to accommodate people with disabilities, disturbingly unsafe and unsanitary conditions, and a lack of basic necessities,” Bonta is quoted as saying. “Despite multiple complaints from Congress, detainees, community members, and my office, the federal government continues to allow this abuse, oppressive conditions, and clear violations of human rights to go unchecked. We urge the court to carefully review our findings, which support these serious claims, and end the civil rights violations at Adelanto.”

Earlier this month, ICE denied the allegations in the lawsuit.

“These claims of inhumane conditions inside the Adelanto ICE processing center are FALSE. All detainees are provided with proper meals, water, medical treatment, and have opportunities to communicate with their family members and lawyers. In fact, ICE has higher detention standards than most U.S. prisons that hold actual U.S. citizens,” Lauren Bis, DHS’ deputy assistant secretary for public affairs, wrote in an emailed statement.

Under AB 103, the attorney general is authorized to inspect immigration detention facilities in the state and report on conditions there. The most recent annual report was released in April 2025, and found inadequate medical records being kept, a lack of suicide prevention systems, and a failure to provide needed medication and other treatment that ended up interfering with their ability to meaningfully participate in their hearings.

Conditions inside

In his 28-page amicus brief, Bonta references conditions observed during a July 2025 inspection of the Adelanto ICE processing center.

“Everything indicated Adelanto was a ticking timebomb,” the brief reads in part, noting that three men had died in the facility between September 2025 and February 2026.

“Adelanto appeared overwhelmed by the number of individuals it was housing,” the brief reads in part. “Adelanto went from holding seven individuals during Amicus Curiae’s November 2023 inspection, to 475 before the COVID-related injunction ended on June 2, 2025, to detaining 1,570 persons on July 8, 2025, plus 517 at (the neighboring) Desert View Annex. In staff interviews, facility staff stated they were caught off guard by the number of new admittees during the surge in immigration arrests in June 2025. Individuals at both Adelanto and Desert View frequently attributed issues with food, recreation time, and grievances to insufficient staffing at the facilities. Individuals also reported that they did not see an increase in detention officers in conjunction with the population increase in the first weeks of June 2025.”

The Adelanto ICE Processing Center also lacks the necessary health care staff, according to the brief.

“Like detention staff, medical staff also explained they were caught off guard by the escalation in population,” the brief reads in part. “Adelanto had a medical director, one full-time physician, one part-time physician, and three full-time and one part-time (on an as-needed basis) Advanced Practitioner Providers. Given the facility’s population increase, and the fact that healthcare staff also serve Desert View Annex, Amicus Curiae was concerned about medical staffing levels. A concern which worsened by Adelanto’s inability to produce assurances that staffing levels had been increased to correspond with the increase in population.”

That lack of medical staffing has meant inadequate health care for detainees, according to the attorney general’s office.

“One person reported that they were vomiting blood and received a referral for immediate care by the triage nurse but was not treated by any medical staff until they saw a physician one-and-a-half weeks later,” the brief reads in part. “Another individual requested medical care for chest pain, was promptly attended to by a nurse, but did not receive follow up care by a practitioner or physician. This individual was next attended to by medical staff 17 days later for neurological symptoms and was then transferred to a hospital.”

ICE’s detention standards require that clean drinking water must be available at all times, but inspectors found murky water coming out of the drinking water tap at the women’s housing unit in July 2025.

Food had similar issues.

According to detainees cited in the brief, “food frequently arrived cold, undercooked, or rotten. These individuals also reported irregular mealtimes, forcing them to choose between eating and outdoor time. Individuals further explained that meals can arrive after bedtime or during population counts, and that sometimes, they had to use the same spoon for weeks.”

ICE also requires that detainees have at least two pairs of underwear and uniforms. But in Adelanto, detainees who arrived after the surge of additional detainees in June 2025 told inspectors that they only had one of each and did not receive new or cleaned clothes for weeks at a time. Several detainees told inspectors they wore borrowed shoes to their interviews with the inspectors because their own shoes had fallen apart and had not been replaced.

Meanwhile, reported use of force has jumped significantly.

“Eight of the 11 reported use of force incidents at Adelanto between January 1 and July 7, 2025, occurred in the month of June, after the increase in population,” the brief reads in part. “Facility staff used pepper spray in six of the reported incidents. One person reported that while individuals were awaiting the intake process, they complained and asked to be moved to a housing unit. In response, a detention officer pepper sprayed them, filling a room which contained about 50 people. The individuals reported rashes for weeks after the incident. While this incident is concerning on its own, it is especially noteworthy because Adelanto has been sued in the past for pepper spraying people as a control measure in enclosed areas.”

Conditions in the facility are preventing detainees from exercising their Constitutional right to due process, according to the brief.

“Amicus Curiae received reports of serious concerns with individuals’ ability to access phones for personal and legal calls,” the brief reads in part. “Many individuals reported that phone calls are limited to only a few minutes, that there are not enough phones, and that many of them do not work. Individuals also reported that phones are shut off at random times throughout the day. During Amicus Curiae’s tour of Adelanto, several individuals reported that phones in their housing unit do not work all morning from Monday through Thursday, and all day on Fridays. Facility staff confirmed that phones are shut off whenever a person is being removed from the facility.”

As of Feb. 12, the Adelanto ICE Processing Center held 1,802 detainees, according to data shared publicly by ICE. The facility is owned and operated by the private, for-profit GEO Group under contract with Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

Although President Donald Trump‘s administration has repeatedly said it’s targeting “the worst of the worst” — including terrorists, gang members and violent criminals — in the immigration sweeps that began soon after his second inauguration last year, according to ICE data, only 40.77% of those detained in the Adelanto ICE Processing Center were convicted of or charged with a crime before being detained. The agency categorizes 29.6% of them as “Threat Level 1,” based on the severity of their “criminality” and how recently it occurred.

Across California’s eight active ICE detention facilities, only 26.92% of the 6,449 detainees were convicted of or charged with a crime before being detained, including 18.05% of them categorized as Threat Level 1.

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AG Bonta calls ICE’s Adelanto detention facility a ‘ticking timebomb’

Conditions inside

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