
Life Inside Adelanto: Stories from the ICE Detention Center
Photo by Briana Walden
Written and narrated by Ryanne Mena • Audio production by P.J. Shahamat • Photos by Kaitlyn Lavo and Briana Walden
This story is a multimedia piece that incorporates audio, text, and photos. To experience the full story, click the play button on the audio players underneath each section.
The Facility
Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) detains individuals in the over 200 Detention centers in the United States. Immigration detention centers operate out of privatized for-profit facilities, by contracting out ICE facility management – with about 80% of ICE detention beds being managed by privatized for-profit companies. The facility in Adelanto is one of these 200, which is located approximately 88 miles from downtown Los Angeles.
Interact with the map below to zoom in on the ICE detention center in Adelanto, CA
Sept. 23 and The title 42 Clause
This interpretation of a specific U.S. law by the Trump administration ignored another U.S. law – the right to apply for asylum under U.S. Code Title 8 Section 1158. The same interpretation of Title 42 is now being utilized by the Biden administration, as seen by the deportation of nearly 700,000 individuals. Despite a Supreme Court September 16 ruling of halting the policy, with judge Emmitt Sullivan citing it as being, “likely unlawful,” the Biden administration filed an appeal a day later.

Ramon's story

Esperanza Immigrant Rights Project and the GEO Group
Margaret Hellerstein is an attorney with the Esperanza Immigrant Rights Project. The organization is a nonprofit, providing legal representation and resources for those inside ICE detention centers…
The Esperanza Immigrant Rights Project is a social services project by the Catholic Charities of Los Angeles. Their services include community education, free direct legal representation for youth in immigration removal proceedings, and pro bono legal services for adults. Margaret Hellerstein is an attorney with the group.
GEO Group is one the country’s largest profiteers in the privatized prison industry, bringing in about $112 per detainee a day, which is paid by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). GEO Group runs the Adelanto Detention Facility which has an occupancy of 1,940 beds. The city acts as a go-between for the ICE federal agency and the for-profit private prison company, GEO Group, by way of contracting.

Anna's Story
Ana Solodovnikova spent two years inside the Adelanto ICE detention center after becoming a victim of human trafficking and obtaining a criminal record, this is her story…

Adelanto Today
