California will impose a 25% tax on private companies operating immigration detention facilities under a first-in-the-nation law signed by Gov. Gavin Newsom this week.
“These past two years [President] Donald Trump has brought fear, anxiety, disruption, and stress to our immigrant community. So today, I signed a number of bills to strengthen transparency, to strengthen accountability and oversight around federal immigration enforcement and civil detention in our state,” Newsom said in a video posted to X.
“AB 1633 will impose a 25% tax on income generated by companies operating immigration detention facilities in California and direct the revenue into the Due Process for All Fund to support immigration-related services,” said Assemblymember Matt Haney, D-San Francisco, in a press release.
Haney, who authored the bill, framed the tax as a way to make private detention companies financially accountable for the effects he says their operations have on California communities.
“For years, private corporations have made hundreds of millions of dollars locking people up for [Immigration and Customs Enforcement] while California families and communities are left to deal with the consequences,” he said.
“Now, California is the first state in the country to say: If you are going to make money off mass detention and family separation in our state, you are going to pay for the harm you cause. That money is going directly back to the communities being impacted.”
California is home to multiple privately operated immigration detention facilities run under contracts with the federal government, two of which are GEO Group and CoreCivic.
GEO Group had previously warned investors that an earlier version of AB 1633, which proposed a 50% tax, could affect its operations and cash flow.
The Daily Signal reached out to both companies about the potential financial impact of the 25% tax and whether they plan to challenge the law or take other action in response.
CoreCivic said it was “aware of this bill and [is] currently reviewing it.”
GEO Group did not respond by publication time.
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[ H/T The Daily Signal ]
