California officials may have to release 911 call records involving incidents at private detention centers, a move one organization said was “urgently needed” as recent reports raise concerns about what’s occurring at immigration detention centers across the state.

The bill would require the release of records related to 911 calls or other calls for service, ensuring “the public’s right to know the frequency and substance of complaints and calls for assistance made by or on behalf of vulnerable individuals held in private detention facilities,” according to the office of state Sen. Lena Gonzalez, who introduced the bill, and the bill’s text.

Among what Gonzalez’s office points out in the bill’s justification is an article from CalMatters published earlier this year about reported sexual assaults at a private immigration detention center in California; The news organization said in its report that they tried to get additional records, such as audio recordings of 911 calls and a full dispatch log, but law enforcement refused to release such records.

California already has laws in place regarding which public records are available and what information doesn’t have to be released. A story from the San Bernardino Sun published earlier this year about the number of 911 calls at an immigration detention center said its data came from an analysis of law enforcement’s call logs obtained through a California Public Records Act request.

New aerial photos of ‘Alligator Alcatraz’ immigration detention center and detainees in Miami

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Correction: An earlier version of this gallery identified the detainees as being housed “Alligator Alcatraz.” They are in a detention facility in Miami. The captions and headline have been updated to reflect this.
In an aerial view from a helicopter, the migrant detention center, dubbed “Alligator Alcatraz,” is seen located at the site of the Dade-Collier Training and Transition Airport on July 4, 2025 in Ochopee, Fla. President Donald Trump was present at the opening of the 5,000-bed facility, located at an abandoned airfield in the Everglades wetlands, as part of his expansion of undocumented migrant deportations.

(Alon Skuy, Getty Images)

However, the bill is “important to give clarity on what local government agencies are required to turn over to the public,” First Amendment Coalition Advocacy Director Ginny LaRoe said in an email to the USA TODAY Network. The organization is a co-sponsor of the bill.

“The public’s right to know should not depend on inconsistent local practices or discretionary withholding,” according to the organization’s letter of support. “When a private detention facility generates emergency calls to local agencies, those records should be accessible to the public, subject to appropriate safeguards.”

In May, California Attorney General Rob Bonta said conditions were worsening at immigration detention facilities in the state — with detainees facing “poor access to clean drinking water” or having issues with receiving timely medical treatment — in the unveiling of the California Department of Justice’s fifth report examining facilities holding people detained by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

Also in the news: A reported hunger strike at an immigration detention center in Southern California in protest of “inhumane conditions,” according to the Victorville Daily Press, which is part of the USA TODAY Network.

“This bill shines a necessary light into California’s for-profit detention facilities by giving the public access to complaints, emergency calls, and reports of harm that too often remain hidden,” said Jackie Gonzalez, co-executive director of Immigrant Defense Advocates — a bill co-sponsor — in a statement.

Paris Barraza is a reporter covering Los Angeles and Southern California for the USA TODAY Network. Reach her at pbarraza@usatodayco.com.

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: 911 calls involving California detention centers targeted in new bill