A federal judge ordered fixes at Adelanto. Now a congresswoman wants the state to step in

Rep. Norma Torres of Pomona is calling on California officials to intervene to protect people held at the Adelanto ICE Processing Center, where federal officials are under orders to improve conditions.

In a letter to California Attorney General Rob Bonta and the state Health and Human Services Agency, Torres on Friday requested more frequent investigations of the facility.

The congresswoman’s ask comes nearly two months after a federal judge ordered immediate improvements to medical care, disability accommodations and daily conditions at the facility. While federal officials have since claimed the privately run Adelanto already meets standards, people detained at the facility continue to report ongoing violations of the court order and conditions they and their attorneys call “inhumane.”

How we got here

U.S. District Judge Sunshine S. Sykes and the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals have determined that the federal government is responsible for the conditions at the facility, which is run by The GEO Group, a private company contracted by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

In her letter, Torres asks state and county officials to conduct additional inspections to make sure the facility is complying with the court order. State law gives the California Department of Justice the authority to review conditions at immigration detention centers. It also gives county health officers the power to inspect private detention facilities — powers Torres says have been “underused.”

The letter from Torres said statements from federal officials claiming conditions are adequate at Adelanto demonstrate that the federal government “does not care about the treatment of detainees.”

“In the absence of proper federal oversight, detainees will remain vulnerable to ongoing neglect, inhuman living conditions, and severe medical risks,” the letter states. “That is why I urge you and your staff to continue oversight and conduct additional inspections at Adelanto to help ensure The GEO Group, Inc. improves conditions for detainees.”

State’s history of oversight

In a May 2026 report, the California Department of Justice reviewed conditions at seven civil immigration detention facilities operating in California. An eighth site, Central Valley Annex, began to hold people in April 2026 and is not included in the report.

That state report, based on site inspections conducted the previous year, found conditions had worsened during Trump's second term.

As the report notes, ICE holds itself to two sets of detention standards, the Performance-Based National Detention Standards and the National Detention Standards.

The inspectors identified multiple violations at all facilities visited. Among the "declining conditions for detainees" cited in the report:

• Inadequate medical care
• Delay in medical treatment
• Overcrowding
• Inadequate food
• Excessive use of force by detention facility guards
• Inadequate clothing

The report also found Adelanto was overwhelmed by the rapid increase in people held at the facility in the summer of 2025. Prior to President Donald Trump’s return to office, the number of people held at Adelanto had fallen to just three. By mid-2025, the population surged to 1,570, according to the report.

Medical and detention staffing levels failed to keep pace. As a result, the report says people were unable to access timely medical treatment or screening for health needs at intake.

People held there reported that the facilities were serving undercooked food at inconsistent times, and failed to provide enough clean drinking water.

Facility records and reports from people detained demonstrated uses of force that included “concerning uses of pepper spray.”

The report noted that there have been six deaths at immigration facilities in California between September 2025 and March 2026 — two at the Imperial Regional Detention Center and four at Adelanto. The report attributed the deaths at Adelanto to alleged substandard medical care.

What's next

Esmeralda Santos, a lead organizer with the Inland Coalition for Immigrant Justice, said her team has been hoping to see the state take a more active role in keeping people at the facility safe. Santos said the state needs to go beyond doing a “well-written report” on what inspectors find.

“The reports say over and over again that Adelanto is not fit to be caging people,” she said, “but afterwards it doesn't go anywhere.”

She said any new inspections need to be paired with actual accountability.