Trump Just Outmaneuvered Newsom on ICE Detention, and California Has No Move Left

Gavin Newsom spent years trying to strangle ICE detention in California. Trump just spent $1.5 billion to make sure it doesn’t work.

The Department of Homeland Security has purchased two of California’s largest ICE detention facilities outright — the 2,560-bed California City Detention Center and the 1,994-bed Otay Mesa Detention Center in San Diego — for a combined $1.472 billion. Over 4,500 detention beds. Permanently under federal ownership. In the heart of sanctuary state territory.

This is checkmate.

California Democrats spent years working every angle available to squeeze ICE out of their state. They passed laws trying to push private detention operators out of business. They sent state investigators to harass facilities. They pressured local governments to refuse cooperation. The Ninth Circuit blocked the most aggressive attempt, but Sacramento kept finding new ways to make federal immigration enforcement slower, harder, and more expensive.

Trump’s DHS didn’t negotiate with any of it. They bought the buildings.