All eight of California's ICE detention centers are privately run. Every single one. Five by GEO Group, two by CoreCivic, one by Imperial Valley Gateway Center LLC. Governor Gavin Newsom just signed a bill taxing all of them at 25% of gross income — not profit, gross income — effective July 1, 2028.
The revenue goes into something called the "Due Process for All Fund." It pays for immigration legal services. Meaning California is now using the rent money ICE pays to house detained illegal aliens to hire lawyers who help those same illegal aliens fight deportation.
AB 1633 is the bill. And Newsom was refreshingly honest about its purpose. "If we can't kick out private facilities, we'll go after their profits," he said. Then, with the kind of line only a California governor could deliver with a straight face: "We may not be able to dictate federal immigration policy, but we can make clear that activities taking place in California will be subject to California law."
Translation: we can't legally shut down federal immigration enforcement, so we'll bleed it financially until it leaves on its own.
Hans von Spakovsky, Senior Legal Fellow at Advancing American Freedom, said the strategy is transparent. "It's very clear that there's only one purpose to this California gigantic tax increase," he said. The purpose isn't revenue. The purpose is eviction.
Von Spakovsky pointed to the math. "If you look at that report, currently ICE has about enough detention space for about 66,000 aliens." A 25% gross income tax on every facility in the state doesn't just trim margins — it makes the operations unsustainable. When CoreCivic's contracts come up in 2027 and 2029, the calculus changes entirely. Why absorb a 25% hit in California when you could operate freely in Arizona or Nevada?
"I'd go to Arizona. I'd potentially go to Nevada. I'd go to other states where they might be eager for federal government money," von Spakovsky said. Which is exactly the outcome Newsom wants — detention capacity pushed out of his state entirely, regardless of what federal law requires.
The bill also bans the use of shock gloves in detention facilities. Newsom called it ending an "Orwellian practice." That provision got roughly one percent of the coverage, because it's the fig leaf. The tax is the weapon.
Notice what Newsom didn't say. He didn't claim the facilities were unsafe. He didn't argue the detainees were being mistreated in ways that required legislative intervention. He didn't present evidence of abuse that would justify a regulatory response. He said he wanted to go after their profits. The quiet part, out loud, printed in the bill summary.
California has spent years trying to nullify federal immigration enforcement through sanctuary policies, non-cooperation mandates, and legal challenges. AB 1633 is the next evolution: using the state tax code as a weapon against federal operations that are explicitly authorized by federal law. The governor can't close the facilities. He can't order ICE out. So he's making it economically irrational for anyone to house ICE detainees within state lines.
The "Due Process for All Fund" is the part that deserves a second look. This isn't general revenue. It isn't going to schools or roads or fire departments. Every dollar collected from taxing immigration enforcement operations is earmarked specifically to fund legal representation for people fighting that same enforcement. The system taxes itself to undermine itself.
CoreCivic's contracts expire in 2027 and 2029. GEO Group runs five of the eight facilities. July 1, 2028 is the effective date. The math isn't complicated.
