SACRAMENTO, Calif. (Washington Insider Magazine)– California’s first-ever national prohibition on for-profit private jails and immigration detention centers was once again overturned on Monday by a larger committee of the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, which determined that the federal government has precedence.
The 2019 state bill that would have gradually phased out privately managed immigration prisons in California by 2028 was overturned by a 3-judge appellate panel last year. according to ABC NEWS. The bill would have compromised a crucial aspect of the country’s immigration detention system.
Rob Bonta, the attorney general of California, urged the wider appellate committee to revisit a decision.
A slew of measures was taken to limit California’s compliance with the federal authorities as then-President Donald Trump adopted strict policies on border security, including the legislation that Governor Gavin Newsom signed. However, the Biden administration kept up the federal government’s constitutional challenge to the legislation.
According to the 11-member appellate committee, the “supremacy clause” of the United States Constitution gives the federal government the right to preempt state law. It referred the matter to the lower court for consideration of further legal issues.
A lawsuit was filed to overturn the legislation by The Geo Group Inc., which runs two such sites in California. Geo and US Immigration and Customs Enforcement did not immediately respond to requests for comment on the decision.
While serving in the state Assembly, Bonta drafted the legislation. His administration stated that it is “deeply disappointed” in the ruling and is still assessing it. According to a statement from his office, the bill was passed to safeguard Californians’ welfare and health and to take into account the federal government’s own well-documented worries about the for-profit, private jails and detention centers.
Only a portion of the majority’s decision was agreed upon by two of the eight judges, including Circuit Judge Jacqueline Nguyen.
Additionally, three of the committee’s eleven judges disagreed with the majority decision, with Chief Judge Mary Murguia stating that the statute is legitimate because it neither directly controls nor treats the federal government unfairly.
She and Nguyen are both appointments made by President Barack Obama.
In a statement, the Dignity, not Detention Coalition, the group that pushed for the California law, referred to the Biden administration’s backing of the case as just another somber sign of the administration’s transition to Trumpian immigration policies. In addition to ending the contracts, it urged the government and Congress to stop all financing for immigrant detention.
