Donald Trump unleashed an unprecedented wave of immigration enforcement crackdowns in 2025.
The number of people detained in U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s detention centers in Adelanto quadrupled.
Statistics show:
But the number of calls to 911 to the San Bernardino County Sheriff’s Department went up six times in 2025. That’s 150% faster compared than the rise in population.
The numbers show that:
- Between Jan. 1, 2021 and Dec. 31, 2024, the San Bernardino County Sheriff’s Department received 164 calls about emergencies inside ICE’s detention facilities in Adelanto. That’s an average of 41 a year.
- But between Jan. 1, 2025 and Dec. 31, 2025, there were 249 calls to 911 — six times the average in the four years before.
This data comes from an analysis of department call logs obtained through a California Public Records Act request.
“More 911 calls aren’t just a function of more people in custody, they are a sign that the system is broken,” Rep. Raul Ruiz, D-Palm Desert, said in a written statement. Ruiz has repeatedly criticized conditions at ICE detention facilities.
“I saw this firsthand at Adelanto,” the member of Congress continued, referencing a Feb. 6 visit to Adelanto. “The conditions are prison-like, and the lack of transparency from ICE has made it harder, not easier, to fix.“
As of April 13, four Adelanto ICE Processing Center detainees — Ismael Ayala-Uribe, Alberto Gutierrez Reyes, Irvin Cruz-Nape and Jose Guadalupe Ramos-Solano — have died since Trump returned to office.
California Attorney General Rob Bonta called the Adelanto ICE Processing Center “a ticking timebomb” in a legal brief in March.
Rep. Jay Obernolte, R-Hesperia, who represents Adelanto in the U.S. House of Representatives, has described the detainees as being treated “as humanely as possible.” He declined to comment for this story.
In an email, the San Bernardino County Sheriff’s Department declined to speculate on the relationship between detainee populations and increased calls for service, but wrote that the increased calls for service did not impact the department’s response time or quality of service to the rest of the High Desert community.
The two Adelanto facilities are owned and operated by the GEO Group, the United States’ largest private prison operator.
In a written statement, the company said meets all ICE “detention standards and contract requirements regarding the treatment and services ICE detainees.”
“The support services GEO provides include around-the-clock access to medical care, in-person and virtual legal and family visitation, general and legal library access, translation services, dietician-approved meals, religious and specialty diets, recreational amenities, and opportunities to practice their religious beliefs,” the statement continues. “Additionally, all of GEO’s ICE Processing Centers are independently accredited by the American Correctional Association and the National Commission on Correctional Health Care.”
That’s not exactly how Esmeralda Santos, the lead organizer for the Inland Coalition for Immigrant Justice, sees it.
The Adelanto ICE Processing Center “was not ready to handle the increase in beds that were going to be occupied,” she said.
Even before the surge in early 2025, the ICIJ was hearing from the handful of people detained inside that the building regularly lost electrical power and heat and the phones kept going out.
“The facility itself is not in the proper condition to handle all these people,” Santos said. “There’s too many folks and not enough staff, and they aren’t trained enough.”
According to U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, there is “no direct correlation” between the spike in detention center populations and 911 calls.
“Many factors may contribute to the number of such calls, including the criminal history of the detainee population and family members calling 911 on behalf of detainees,” a written statement from the agency reads in part.
“Being in detention is a choice,” the statement continued. The agency encouraged “all individuals here illegally” to leave the U.S., offering them $2,600 and a free flight home.
2021-24 vs. 2025 incidents
More than just the 911 call volume changed in 2025.
Specific types of calls seen repeatedly on the logs from 2021 through 2024 stopped appearing in 2025. Assaults, warrant arrests, rapes, federal Prison Rape Elimination Act calls, and other categories do not appear in the 2025 logs.
Instead, catch-all categories soared in the 2025 call log:
- “Extra patrols” went up 3,820% compared to the four-year average
- “Information call” went up 990% compared to the four-year average
- “Follow up” went up 593% compared to the four-year average
- “911 follow up” went up 300% compared to the four-year average
Assaults on officers and assaults with serious injuries both went up 700% compared to the average. Four of each were reported in 2025.
The sheriff’s department was able to provide more detail about the jump in catch-all categories.
“The increase in ‘information calls’ in 2025 was mainly attributed to calls from GEO facility staff for medical requests for detainees reporting a medical-related condition or concern,” sheriff’s department spokesperson Gloria Orejel wrote in an email. “In these instances, our dispatch center receives a call from facility staff, creates a call, and relays the information to the fire department or paramedic response. Deputies generally do not respond to those calls unless specifically requested.”
Some of the changes in categories reflect ongoing changes in how call types were recategorized, according to Orejel, including more types of calls being added between 2023 and 2025.
In addition, “call classifications can change based on how calls are received, documented, and cleared within the dispatch system,” Orejel wrote.
New categories reported in the 2025 call log for the first time in at least five years included security checks, medical aid, protest, drug overdoses, narcotics being found and an escape.
The Sept. 26, 2025 escapee didn’t get far, according to the initial call for service. At about 3:50 p.m., an unnamed adult male inmate climbed over the first perimeter fence of a recreation yard. He ran a short distance between the outer and inner perimeter fences before being captured by detention center officers.
More details about the escape, and other specific incidents, are being withheld by the San Bernardino County Sheriff’s Department. The department cited an exemption to the California Public Records Act for “files compiled by any other state or local agency for correctional, law enforcement, or licensing purposes.”
The ICIJ heard about the escape attempt when it happened, Santos said — and the retaliation that reportedly followed for detainees held in the west wing of the Adelanto ICE Processing Center.
“People were not allowed to go outside for about a month,” she said.
According to ICE data, as of April 9, 2026, there were 5,805 people in ICE’s California detention centers. There were 1,733 people detained in the Adelanto ICE Processing Center and 425 at Desert View Annex.
The agency categorizes 27.41% of its California detainees as criminals. ICE further identifies 19.12% of the detainees as “Threat Level 1,” the most dangerous, based on the severity of their “criminality” and how recently it occurred. The agency defines detainees as criminals if they have a conviction or pending criminal charges.
“I don’t think this facility should exist, at the end of the day,” Santos said. “No one should be caged under these types of conditions.”
