Congressman DeSaulnier’s Statement on the AG’s Findings of Mistreatment of ICE Detainees at West County Detention Facility

Washington, DC – Today, Congressman Mark DeSaulnier (CA-11) issued the following statement after California Attorney General Xavier Becerra released the California Department of Justice Review of Immigration Detention in California report, which corroborates many of the allegations of mistreatment of undocumented immigrants at the West County Detention Facility in Richmond, California. In November of 2017, Congressman DeSaulnier urged California Attorney General Xavier Becerra and U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions to conduct independent, third-party investigations of the West County Detention Facility.

"The Attorney General's report affirms what we had long suspected—West County Detention Facility did not have the resources or the training necessary to properly care for the immigrants in its care. Every person should be treated with respect and dignity, and that was not happening. The residents of Contra Costa deserve to know that this was happening in the their backyard, and this report, combined with expert press reporting, finally sheds that light."

Following multiple and varying allegations of abuse of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) detainees at the West County Detention Facility, DeSaulnier also called for the termination of Contra Costa County's ICE contract. In July of 2018, the Contra Costa County Sheriff's Office announced it would cancel its contract with ICE.

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