California Ban on Private Prisons for Undocumented Ruled Unconstitutional
According to Ninth Circuit Judge Jacqueline H. Nguyen, California has no jurisdiction on the use by the federal Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency of private prisons to hold undocumented immigrants.
Landwebs
Judge Jacqueline H. Nguyen of the en banc Ninth Circuit has issued an opinion stating that California’s ban on all private prisons in the state impermissibly inserts the state into immigration regulation, which is the domain of the federal government, reports Bernie Pazanowski for Bloomberg News. Judge Nguyen said Immigration and Customs Enforcement oversees the detention of immigrants in California through almost exclusively privately owned detention facilities and that the supremacy clause prohibits states from controlling the operations of the federal government. Dissenting Chief Judge Mary H. Murguia, joined by Judges Johnnie B. Rawlinson and Jennifer Sung said that California’s legislation is valid because “it neither directly regulates nor discriminates against the federal government.”
