CALIFORNIA CITY, Calif. (FOX26) — U.S. Senators Adam Schiff and Alex Padilla toured California’s largest ICE detention center on Tuesday, citing growing concerns from detainees and their families about conditions inside the facility.
When you walk inside these walls, you experience a different trauma,
Schiff said.
The California City detention center, located in eastern Kern County, is surrounded by barbed wire and a watchtower and can hold more than 2,500 people.
ICE says the detainee population has already climbed to about 1,450 since transfers began late last summer.
Lawmakers said they are concerned about access to medical care, mental health services, and basic needs of the detainees as the population grows.
Senators cite medical, mental health concerns at California ICE detention center
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“The population in here is only going to grow,” Padilla said. “So the need to address nutrition, medical attention, and mental health care, all of the above, is only going to grow.”
Schiff said inadequate medical care was one of the most common complaints raised during the visit, describing a woman with diabetes who he said had not received treatment despite disclosing her condition during intake.
The visit comes as immigration detention nationwide reaches record levels.
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According to the senators, nearly 73,000 people are currently being held in ICE custody, the highest number in U.S. history.