Sen. Alex Padilla and Rep. Jim Costa turned away from ICE detention facility in McFarland
U.S. Sen. Alex Padilla and U.S. Rep. Jim Costa made an unannounced visit Monday to Golden State Annex in McFarland, saying they wanted to inspect conditions inside the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement detention facility amid what they described as a surge in immigration enforcement across California.
"I've lived in this valley all my life. I've never, never seen the level of fear that we see today over the last two years that has, I think, purposely been created by this administration: fear of going to work, fear of going to school, fear of going shopping," Costa said.
Padilla and Costa spent about 50 minutes at the facility before leaving. They said a supervisor at Golden State Annex, which is operated by the private company GEO Group, told them ICE staff from Fresno needed to be present before access could be granted and that their arrival could take at least a couple of hours.
"It's unacceptable, and it's insulting. For members of Congress trying to do our job, he could not point to a section of the law. He could not point to a section of their contract that prohibited him from granting us access so we could do our job," Padilla said.
"It became very clear he's just trying to stonewall us," Padilla said.
In a statement released after the visit, Costa said the lawmakers "were denied access to basic information and given the runaround."
"As members of Congress, we have a constitutional right to conduct oversight of these facilities and ask basic questions about the conditions, medical care and treatment of detainees," Costa said in the statement.
The visit comes as Padilla says more than 60 people have died in ICE custody since President Donald Trump returned to office. That compares with 26 deaths reported by ICE during President Joe Biden's four years in office.
"Their refusal to grant us access to the detention facility raises serious questions about what they're trying to hide," Padilla said in a statement.
According to GEO Group's website, Golden State Annex can hold up to 700 people. ICE's most recent inspection report says the facility holds men.
The facility opened in 1997. Until March 2020, it was a private prison that held state inmates under a contract with the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation. The state ended that contract as part of its exit from for-profit prisons, and ICE began housing detainees there that same year.
ICE deportation officers are not assigned to the facility full time. According to the inspection report, they make scheduled visits once a week, on Tuesdays.
Several families from across the Central Valley have told Action News their loved ones have been held at Golden State Annex.
ICE's Office of Detention Oversight inspected Golden State Annex June 23-25. According to the report, facilities like this one are notified four weeks before an inspection.
Inspectors identified seven deficiencies. Inspectors found one detainee received a required health assessment, including a mental health screening, 20 days after arriving, rather than within the required 14 days. In two cases, staff took six and seven days to respond to detainee grievances, beyond the five-day standard.
One detainee told inspectors he had a fractured foot and had not been scheduled to see a specialist. According to the report, he first reported foot pain May 6. An X-ray on June 16 showed a fracture, and his podiatrist appointment was still pending when inspectors left.
The report also found that none of the 18 detainees interviewed alleged discrimination, mistreatment or abuse. The facility's rating improved this year to "Good," up from "Acceptable/Adequate" in 2025, and its number of deficiencies dropped from 17 to seven.
"These are people that overwhelmingly have committed no violent crime. These are not the worst of the worst. These are people that would be addressed if we were to fix a broken immigration system," Costa said.
"ICE has been consistent in their unwillingness to be transparent, to be forthcoming," Costa said.
Costa said that when he visited Mesa Verde last year, he gave a week's advance notice because he wanted to meet with detainees from the Fresno area who had contacted his office. He said that when he arrived, those detainees were no longer there.
Padilla, the ranking member of the Senate Judiciary Immigration Subcommittee, has conducted oversight visits to immigration detention facilities and holding centers across California, including facilities in California City, Otay Mesa, San Francisco International Airport, downtown Los Angeles, Sacramento and San Diego.
"I've lost count of how many visits throughout the state of California and beyond, through Texas, all the way to Guantanamo Bay," Padilla said.
"There was a lot of questions we were ready to ask. The question we're leaving with is, what do they have to hide?" Padilla said.
Padilla said this was not the first time he has been denied access to an ICE facility and that he plans to return.
"It will definitely be a return visit. Scheduled or unscheduled, we don't know yet," Padilla said.
"I will keep showing up, demanding answers, and fighting to ensure the law is followed and people's rights are protected," Padilla said in a statement.