Conditions are inhumane at California's largest ICE holding center near Bakersfield, according to South Bay congressional rep Ro Khanna, who just had a visit to the for-profit prison facility being operated with your tax dollars.
We will begin this post by acknowledging that Silicon Valley congressional representative Ro Khanna is rumored to maybe be running for president in 2028. This perhaps kind of explains why Khanna is carving himself a lane as one of the biggest advocates for the release of the Epstein files, and also chasing TV cameras to espouse his support for the proposed California “billionaire tax.”
And now Khanna is trying to make a name for himself as a firebrand on another topic, as KTVU reports that Khanna is expressing outrage over conditions at an ICE detention center in Bakersfield, which he toured this week.
“This is the largest detention facility in the state of California. I left with a profound sense of urgency, concern, and moral responsibility. What we witnessed cannot be ignored, excused, or normalized,” Khanna said in a Tuesday Facebook post. “America can enforce its laws without abandoning its humanity. What we saw at the California City Detention Center is systemic neglect. A detention-industrial complex that operates without transparency or accountability does not put American values first; it puts profit first.”
The facility is a shuttered state prison, now being run by a private-prison group called CoreCivic. We noted it’s the largest ICE detention center in California, with a current 1,428 detainees. It's scheduled to eventually have more than 2,500, and Khanna says he spoke with dozens of them.
“They described being treated like animals, locked in cells for seven hours a day, and fed undercooked beans that frequently contain rocks,” Khanna said on Facebook. “Older detainees are at heightened risk because they are rarely given fresh fruits or vegetables. We met a lawful permanent resident who lived in the U.S. for 45 years, now detained for an issue from nearly three decades ago.”
There is currently a lawsuit against this facility over the inhumane conditions. That, and political pressure from officials like Khanna, may be the only hope for the detainees trapped there, many of them with no criminal records whatsoever.
Image: BROADVIEW, ILLINOIS - OCTOBER 17: People keep an eye on demonstrators as they stand on the roof of the immigration processing and detention center on October 17, 2025 in Broadview, Illinois. Demonstrations have been taking place outside of the facility for several weeks as the Trump administration's Operation Midway Blitz has been underway, arresting and detaining immigrants in the Chicago area. (Photo by Joe Raedle/Getty Images)
