Alameda County to vote on opposing FCI Dublin conversion to ICE detention center
Alameda County to vote on opposing FCI Dublin conversion to ICE detention center
Two Alameda County supervisors are bringing forth a resolution on Tuesday to oppose turning a now-shuttered women's prison in Dublin into an ICE facility or any other type of prison or correctional facility.
DUBLIN, Calif. - Two Alameda County supervisors are bringing forth a resolution on Tuesday to oppose turning a now-shuttered women's prison in Dublin into an ICE facility or any other type of prison or correctional facility.
Symbolic vote
What we know:
The vote, spearheaded by Board President David Haubert and Supervisor Elisa Márquez, will be largely symbolic.
The county has no power to tell the federal government what to do with its land, which sits next to the county's Santa Rita Jail.
Activists voice support
Many local residents and immigrant justice activists support the resolution, even though it's symbolic.
Sophie Sarkar, a member of the ICE Out of Dublin Coalition, said seeing public officials vote in favor of this resolution will demonstrate that those leaders are willing to take a stand against ICE and the "inhumane conditions" of ICE detention facilities.
"We believe that no one should ever be subjected to these conditions. We also know that a local ICE detention center would drastically increase ICE enforcement in the area. Thousands of residents have signed the petition to show we do not want an ICE facility, we do not want ICE in our communities," said Sarkar.
She is also part of the group called Tsuru for Solidarity, made up of Japanese American survivors of concentration camps and their descendants.
"When our families, including my grandmother, were forcibly removed here in California and beyond, no city or county or state government entities protested their mass incarceration," said Sarkar.
She's happy to see local governments standing up now.
Abandoned prison
The prison has been vacant for roughly two years; the Bureau of Prisons shut it down following a national sex scandal, where nine officers have so far been convicted for sex crimes and a 10th officer's charges were ultimately dismissed following two mistrials.
The supervisors' vote also comes about four months after the city of Dublin voted on the same thing, in another symbolic gesture.
Powerless in Prison: Surviving Sex Abuse
Over the course of eight months, KTVU has spoken with more than three dozen women who say they have been sexually assaulted or witnessed such abuse at FCI Dublin. Many who spoke up were retaliated against.
The other side:
Despite initial speculation and rumor after Donald Trump became president and after the BOP moved out all the women imprisoned at FCI Dublin in April 2024, the agency has told KTVU there is no effort to turn the abandoned site into an immigration facility.
And in December 2025, the BOP told the Dublin City Council that the agency was planning to permanently "deactivate, close and dispose" of FCI Dublin, while also divesting itself of the facility and transferring the property to the U.S. General Services Administration.
No plans for detention center
In February of this year, the Department of Homeland Security reiterated to KTVU that there are no plans to turn the vacant, asbestos-filled prison into any type of center for immigration detention.
Still, Haubert and Márquez note in their board agenda item that "credible reports and public speculation" persist that this piece of federal land could be turned over to ICE, or a private company contracting with the government for immigration purposes for either "detention or correctional operations."
The supervisors note that ICE operations in Chicago and Minneapolis have "led to the erosion of trust in local government at both the city and county levels."