A 2019 proposal would bar private detention facilities from contracting with federal agencies to detain minors.
The Los Angeles City Council could reactivate a proposed zoning ordinance that would prohibit private detention centers in the city from partnering with federal agencies like Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) to operate detention centers for minors.
As Destiny Torres explains in LAist, “The zoning ordinance was first introduced in 2019 in response to President Donald Trump’s immigration policies during his first term. The file was drafted in 2021, but was never officially adopted, and therefore it expired in 2024.”
City Councilmember Tim McOsker, who is championing the ordinance, says it is meant to prevent detention facilities from “creating human rights violations and poor living conditions, disease, death and harms that were unconstitutional to residents of the United States.” According to DHS, the agency has detained over 10,000 people in Los Angeles since raids began in June.
Read the full story: LA revives zoning law that could ban some private detention centers from contracting with ICE
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