Attorney General Bonta Sounds Alarm on Inhumane Conditions at Adelanto Detention Center

Files amicus brief in support of detainee case seeking end to medical neglect, disability discrimination, and punitive conditions at Adelanto

OAKLAND - California Attorney General Rob Bonta yesterday filed an amicus brief in support of a challenge in L.T. et al. v. United States Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) et al., opposing the conditions of confinement at Adelanto ICE Processing Center (Adelanto), one of the largest immigration detention centers in the United States. Since the Trump Administration launched its indiscriminate mass deportation campaign, it has apprehended thousands of people and subjected them to long periods of detention in inhumane conditions with inadequate medical care, while failing to enforce its own applicable detention standards. The California Department of Justice has inspected and reported on these practices, including at Adelanto, as part of a statutory mandate pursuant to Assembly Bill (AB) 103. In the amicus brief, Attorney General Bonta provides the California Department of Justice's findings on inhumane conditions at Adelanto and explains to the court that the public interest favors preliminary relief to prevent further harm.

"The inhumane and punitive conditions of confinement inside Adelanto Detention Center demand immediate attention and urgent action by the Trump Administration. During our inspections at Adelanto, my team witnessed shockingly inadequate medical care, a failure to accommodate people with disabilities, disturbingly unsafe and unsanitary conditions, and a lack of basic necessities. These vile conditions have exacerbated as a result of the Trump Administration's mass deportation campaign," said Attorney General Bonta. "Despite multiple complaints from Congress, detainees, community members, and my office, the federal government continues to allow this abuse, oppressive conditions, and clear violations of human rights to go unchecked. We urge the court to carefully review our findings, which support these serious claims, and end the civil rights violations at Adelanto."

AB 103 was created in response to increased immigration enforcement in the first Trump Administration and growing concerns regarding conditions in immigration detention facilities within California - including three deaths at Adelanto in 2017. AB 103 authorizes the Attorney General to conduct reviews and provide periodic reports on conditions of confinement, standard of care, and how conditions of confinement affect the due process provided to detainees. Since AB 103 took effect, the California Department of Justice has published four reports on conditions at California facilities, including Adelanto, finding substandard conditions in a number of areas that fail to meet ICE's own detention standards.

In the amicus brief, Attorney General Bonta specifically highlights alarming conditions that the California Department of Justice identified and documented at Adelanto during a July 2025 inspection, including:

• Insufficient staffing: Staffing levels have not kept pace withthe needs created by the dramatic surge in apprehension and confinement of detainees - from seven individuals in 2023 to 1,570 in 2025 - while facility conditions simultaneously deteriorated.
• Inadequate medical access: Detainees have been unable to access requested medical appointments or receive necessary and timely medical treatment, including emergency medical care, contributing to preventable medical crises.
• Lack of medical care follow-ups: Detainees with chronic and acute medical conditions are not consistently receiving necessary referrals for follow-up medical care, either within the facility or with outside medical providers.
• Unsafe food and water: Detainees reported improperly cooked food and meals being served at irregular times, and murky drinking water was witnessed by the California Department of Justice team coming out of the tap in the women's housing unit.
• Failure to provide basic necessities: Detainees across housing units reported receiving only one pair of underwear and uniform while living in extremely unsanitary conditions.
• Use of force concerns: There weremultiple reported incidents of facility staff using pepper spray against detainees, including against those experiencing mental health episodes.
• Due process barriers: Detainees were denied access to facility phones for prolonged periods while other detainees were being transferred or deported from Adelanto, impeding detainees' ability to contact family members and legal counsel.

In addition, despite multiple inspections and reports documenting concerns regarding conditions at Adelanto, three men detained at Adelanto died between September 2025 and February 2026.

Attorney General Bonta is committed to providing members of the public and policymakers with critical information about the conditions that people in civil immigration detention in California are subjected to. Last year, Attorney General Bonta sent a letter to the U.S. Department of Homeland Security shining a light on dangerous conditions at the recently opened California City Detention Facility.