The Los Angeles City Council Wednesday revived a 2021 effort to bar private detention facilities citywide through land-use authorization regulations.
In a 12-0 vote, the council approved a motion introduced by Councilman Tim McOsker, which essentially reactivated a previous city file and draft ordinance that was nearly complete during the first Trump administration term. The council’s action restored the matter to its most recent legislative status and restarted the final steps needed to codify the ban, according to McOsker’s office.
Council members Monica Rodriguez, Katy Yaroslavsky and Heather Hutt were absent during the vote.
In 2019, then-Council President Herb Wesson introduced an effort to address the expansion of private detention facilities that was happening nationwide as well as widespread concerns about children being held in detention facilities.
Under the Trump administration’s second term, federal immigration officials and private prison companies are pursuing large industrial properties such as warehouses as new detention spaces.
The Washington Post reported in January that the administration has moved to purchase industrial buildings in at least eight states as part of an effort to build out a national detention network.
“This motion is about being prepared, not reactive. The city of Los Angeles came very close in 2021 to formally prohibiting private detention centers, but that work was left unfinished,” McOsker said in a statement.
“I want to make sure Los Angeles is clear about where we stand. I have no indication that a private detention facility is being proposed here today, but with the state of our nation as it stands, it would be irresponsible not to complete this work,” McOsker added.
The councilman said finalizing and adopting the draft ordinance will allow the city to define uses under the LA Municipal Code, and prevent private detention facilities from being built in the city’s communities.
In July 2021, the city attorney submitted a final report and draft ordinance amending the Municipal Code to formally prohibit private detention centers and community detention facilities for unaccompanied minors.
That report was referred to the Planning and Land Use Management Committee, where the file expired.
The ordinance builds on recommendations adopted by the committee in April 2021 and an expanded definition approved by the City Planning Commission in December 2020. The definition of “Private Detention Center” includes any privately or nongovernmentally operated facility where individuals are incarcerated or otherwise involuntarily confined, including facilities used to house persons in federal custody, with limited statutory exceptions.
McOsker emphasized the need to update the legal research and complete the work. His 15th Council District, encompassing the Harbor Area, is home to the federal detention facility on Terminal Island, which is currently in the process of closing, as well as numerous large warehouses and industrial sites throughout the district.
One high-profile example of the national detention build-out is the facility in the Florida Everglades, dubbed “Alligator Alcatraz” by some in the media, a remote migrant detention center that opened in mid-2025 at a converted airstrip and drew national criticism over its conditions, according to McOsker’s office.
In the Mojave Desert northeast of Los Angeles, the LA Public Press has previously reported on alleged human rights violations occurring at the Adelanto U.S. Immigration Customs and Enforcement Processing Center.
There was no immediate response to a request for comment from the U.S. Department of Homeland Security about plans to open new detention centers in Los Angeles or its alleged violations of human rights at existing detention centers.