Court-appointed monitor found CoreCivic's California City ICE facility systemically denied detainees adequate healthcare

On July 28, 2026, a court-appointed independent medical monitor, Dr. Muthusamy Anandkumar, released a report finding that ICE's California City Immigration Processing Center -- operated by CoreCivic in California City, California -- lacks a reliable system to consistently provide adequate healthcare, placing detainees at serious risk of immediate and long-term harm. Anandkumar identified 13 areas of deficiency, including inadequate emergency and dental care, chronic-disease management failures, and missing or delayed distribution of medications for conditions such as diabetes, hypertension, and seizures; some detainees faced months-long delays in cancer treatment. He attributed the failures to staffing shortages, unstable on-site management, and insufficient clinical oversight rather than to individual healthcare workers.

U.S. District Judge Maxine Chesney appointed Anandkumar in March 2026 as part of an ongoing lawsuit filed in the Northern District of California by seven detainees who allege the facility's conditions violate their due-process rights; the judge had ordered the government to show it provides "constitutionally adequate" care in eight categories. Anandkumar's findings echoed a September 2025 inspection by Disability Rights California, which similarly found failures to distribute medication for life-threatening conditions and to schedule timely surgeries. Plaintiff Sokhean Keo said in an ACLU-distributed statement that he never received medication prescribed for an infection, warning that "sick people are going to die" absent changes. CoreCivic said it provides daily medical access and round-the-clock emergency services, and that ICE separately monitors the facility's compliance with detention standards.