County Fight Contested

Kern County CA — GEO Group Central Valley Annex Opens Without Permits

Kern, CA FIPS 06029

Current status: GEO Group opened 700-bed Central Valley Annex in McFarland late April 2026 under a claimed existing intergovernmental agreement, bypassing California's 180-day public notice requirement. No public hearings held. ICE transferred detainees without local permit verification. Advocates had no opportunity to raise concerns before opening. Permit status unconfirmed as of late April 2026.

The Fight

GEO Group quietly activated a 700-bed immigration detention facility in McFarland, California in the final week of April 2026, making it the eighth ICE detention center in California. The facility — the Central Valley Annex — opened inside a former state prison previously used for U.S. Marshals Service detainees. No public hearings were held. The city of McFarland provided no confirmed evidence it complied with California’s 180-day public notice requirement for detention facility conversions.

McFarland (population ~14,000) is already home to GEO Group’s Golden State Annex (565 average daily detainees) and sits near the Mesa Verde Detention Center in Bakersfield. This cluster of GEO facilities in northern Kern County has become one of the densest ICE detention corridors in the country — and one of the most extensively documented for abuse.

The Problem

California law requires a city or county to provide 180 days’ notice and hold public hearings before approving or allowing the reuse of a facility for immigration detention. ICE told reporters that the Central Valley Annex opened “under an existing intergovernmental services agreement that has been in place for several years.” But advocates and reporters could not verify whether McFarland conducted the required public process:

The McFarland city clerk and city manager did not respond to media inquiries about whether the 180-day notice was given or public hearings held
Advocates said they had no opportunity to raise concerns before detainees arrived
The California law’s requirements are tied to open-meetings obligations — a potential Brown Act violation if the conversion was approved in closed session or not approved at all

GEO Group holds a 15-year, $1.5 billion contract with ICE covering three Central Valley locations. The company claims its facilities are accredited by the American Correctional Association — a credential critics call industry self-certification.

Context: The McFarland Cluster and Its Record

The Golden State Annex and Mesa Verde — Central Valley Annex’s immediate neighbors — have been the subject of sustained ACLU litigation. The ACLU of Southern California and Freedom for Immigrants previously sued over Brown Act violations at Mesa Verde’s predecessor facility (Golden State Annex opening). Documented abuses at these adjacent facilities include:

Medical neglect and solitary confinement
Retaliation against hunger strikers
Blocked attorney access

California now has eight ICE detention centers with nearly 10,000 total beds. The average detained population jumped 72% between April 2025 and April 2026, reaching approximately 5,337 people statewide.

Timeline

2020: GEO Group closes private prisons at McFarland sites after California bans for-profit detention (AB 32)
2025: GEO reactivates sites under ICE contracts using federal sovereign immunity argument to circumvent AB 32
2026-04 (late): Central Valley Annex opens in McFarland — no public hearings confirmed, California’s 180-day notice requirement apparently bypassed
2026-04-23/24: CalMatters and GV Wire break story; McFarland city officials do not respond to permit inquiries
2026-04-27: Additional local coverage confirms facility operational, detainees already housed

Key Actors

GEO Group: Operator; 15-year/$1.5B ICE contract for Central Valley cluster
ICE: Transferred detainees under claimed existing IGA
City of McFarland: Silent — no response to permit/public-process inquiries
ACLU SoCal + Freedom for Immigrants: Litigated Golden State Annex/Mesa Verde; likely to challenge Central Valley Annex
CalMatters: Broke the story on permit irregularities

Why This Fight Matters

The Central Valley Annex is the operational sequel to the Mesa Verde playbook: reactivate a closed prison under an existing contract framework, move fast before community opposition can organize, and rely on ICE’s sovereign immunity argument to deflect local oversight. The 180-day-notice law was specifically enacted to prevent this. Its apparent circumvention — again, in the same county, by the same operator — reveals how porous California’s detention transparency law remains when federal agencies and private contractors coordinate to move faster than local government can respond.

Sources

This research is published at The RAMM — investigative reporting on the detention pipeline.

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