Democratic Sen. Alex Padilla of California is sounding the alarm about the “inhumane” conditions at his state’s largest immigration detention center and calling on Congress to take action, as the Trump administration continues its nationwide immigration crackdown.
Padilla sat down with MS NOW’s Jen Psaki on Tuesday to discuss what he witnessed firsthand at the California City facility earlier this month.
“This is an administration that doesn’t want you to believe what you see with your own eyes,” Padilla told Psaki. “I know what I saw with my own eyes, and what I heard with my own ears, and talking to many of the detainees.”
“When I visited facilities like this, other ICE facilities or detention centers, correctional facilities even, throughout my public service career, you always expect to hear maybe complaints about food or water,” the California Democrat said.
He added: “But I was shocked at the amount and intensity of the complaints about lack of medical care. Like, even in prisons, even under conditions of war, there [are] basic standards that we are supposed to hold and maintain. That is not happening.”
Beyond physical care, Padilla said he was struck by how many detainees mentioned the lack of mental health care in the facilities. “A lot of them come in with trauma — to have kids that you’re supposed to be providing for on the outside, not sure what their future is, is absolutely traumatic,” he said.
According to Padilla, the facility currently holds more than 1,400 detainees and has a capacity of up to 2,500. “I share those numbers because the problems that we’ve seen without being properly addressed are only going to be exacerbated as the Trump administration aggressively pursues this goal of 100,000 or more [deportations a day.]”
To address these issues, the senator, who serves as ranking member on the Judiciary Immigration Subcommittee, introduced the Dignity for Detained Immigrants Act.
Padilla said the bill was “about ensuring that even in these detention facilities, we’re maintaining the basic human rights conditions for a detainee similar to what we do with prisoners or even soldiers in the context of war … access to water, housing facility, access to basic care, those sorts of things.”
Padilla said to Psaki, “2025 was the deadliest year for detainees in ICE facilities — and we’re on track, just the January numbers, to exceed that in 2026.” He added, “And so just as we’ve called for actual independent investigations into the shooting of Renée Good a few weeks ago in Minneapolis and Alex Pretti this last weekend, how about the dozens who have died in ICE custody, right? That needs to be done as part of oversight and accountability as well.”
You can watch Padilla’s full interview in the clip at the top of the page.
Allison Detzel is an editor/producer for MS NOW. She was previously a segment producer for “AYMAN” and “The Mehdi Hasan Show.”