This might turn out to be irrelevant in the end, but if anyone would like a quick and more readable summary of the issue, I also found this one while looking into Mr. Wooner.
"ICE has been struggling to keep its facilities open across California after lawmakers passed a pair of “sanctuary” laws in 2017 that prevent cities and counties from entering into new contracts or from expanding existing agreements with ICE. The laws also gave the California Attorney General’s office, now run by AG Xavier Becerra, increased oversight over the centers.
A report released just last week, the first under the Attorney General’s new mandate, found poor conditions, notably inadequate access to medical care and legal representation, including at Mesa Verde.
In part because of the new regulations, the city of McFarland, outside Bakersfield, ended its contract to operate Mesa Verde in December. The city had been receiving about $35,000 a year for operating as a go-between in ICE’s agreement with GEO Group.
McFarland was the third locality to pull out since the legislation took effect; Sacramento and Contra Costa counties ended their contracts to house detainees in the county jails last year. In those cases, the jails stopped detaining immigrants.
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Officials have not commented publicly on the city’s decision to end the contract. But a letter from the city notifying the GEO Group of the contract’s termination suggests that it was not over moral concerns but rather because the state’s more aggressive stance against ICE made continuing to work with the agency less appealing.
“This has been a satisfactory arrangement for the City,” city manager John Wooner wrote, “until recent adoption by the State of California of legislation impacting facilities such as Mesa Verde.”
As more cities elect to close their immigration facilities, ICE’s tactic shows a new way for the agency to effectively nullify the decisions of local governments. Mesa Verde will stay open for another year, without ICE having to go through the standard time-consuming public bidding process normally required for government contracts.
How ICE outmaneuvered a town that tried to close a detention facility