An attorney’s guide to post-release transportation, shelter, and reunification resources at California’s ICE detention centers
Winning release from immigration detention can produce an unexpectedly practical problem: how does your client actually get home?
A federal judge may order a person released immediately. An immigration judge may grant bond. ICE may finally agree to release someone after weeks or months of litigation. But the person who emerges from detention may have no car, no working phone, little or no money, and family hundreds or thousands of miles away.
And many California immigration detention centers are nowhere near where our clients actually live.
California City is roughly 70 miles east of Bakersfield. The Adelanto facilities sit in the High Desert. Imperial Regional Detention Facility is outside Calexico. Even facilities in Bakersfield and McFarland can leave a newly released person a substantial distance from an airport or other useful transportation.
For lawyers handling detained cases, particularly emergency habeas litigation, release planning should begin before the release order arrives.
Fortunately, California has an extraordinary network of community organizations and volunteers doing exactly this work.
As of August 2026, California has eight active ICE detention centers, after ICE activated the 700-bed Central Valley Annex in McFarland in April. The eight facilities have a combined capacity approaching 10,000 beds.
Here is where I would start for each one.
California City, Mesa Verde, Golden State Annex & Central Valley Annex
Start with KWESI
Kern Welcoming & Extending Solidarity to Immigrants (KWESI) is probably the single most useful organization for attorneys with clients detained in Kern County.
KWESI works with all four current Kern County immigration detention facilities:
- California City Immigration Processing Center — California City
- Mesa Verde ICE Processing Center — Bakersfield
- Golden State Annex — McFarland
- Central Valley Annex — McFarland
And this is not merely a visitation organization.
KWESI expressly operates a post-release program in which volunteers pick people up from detention and help them get home to their loved ones. The organization provides immediate assistance including food, clothing, travel supplies and short-term shelter.
Its website gives an unusually concrete picture of what this work involves. KWESI estimates that it can take approximately $500 to send a person who has won habeas across the country to reunite with family, $120 for a hotel room, and additional funds for food and a working phone.
Its donation page also describes paying for bus tickets to Los Angeles, train tickets to the Bay Area, meals during travel, phones, and other necessities after release.
That is almost exactly the logistical problem lawyers encounter after an emergency habeas victory.
Contact: KWESI can be reached through its website/contact form and at its publicly listed email contact.
KWESI post-release assistance
Kern County backup: Rapid Response Network
The Kern County Rapid Response Network maintains a hotline at:
661-432-2230
The network can respond when someone has been detained, mobilize local support, and connect families with community resources.
For release transportation, I would contact KWESI first and use the Rapid Response Network as an additional local coordination resource.
Adelanto ICE Processing Center & Desert View Annex
The two Adelanto facilities are another place where release logistics matter. A person walking out of detention in the High Desert may still need transportation to Los Angeles, another regional transportation hub, temporary shelter, or direct transportation home.
Adelanto Visitation & Advocacy Network
The Adelanto Visitation & Advocacy Network (AVAN) works with people detained at Adelanto and provides case management and referrals for both legal and nonlegal needs.
Its services include assistance navigating the practical problems surrounding detention and release, including referrals and bond assistance.
AVAN contact:
Blanca Malpartida-Girard
blancamg2040@gmail.com
Inland Empire Rapid Response
For additional local support in San Bernardino and Riverside Counties:
Inland Coalition for Immigrant Justice / Rapid Response Network
909-361-4588
That number is currently included in the statewide California rapid-response network.
For an impending release from Adelanto, I would contact AVAN first and alert the Inland Empire network if additional coordination is needed.
Otay Mesa Detention Center
For clients released from the Otay Mesa Detention Center in San Diego, there is a substantial immigrant-support infrastructure in the region.
Detention Resistance
Detention Resistance has long organized directly with people detained at Otay Mesa and with formerly detained people. Its work includes direct accompaniment and support connected to immigration detention.
Catholic Charities Diocese of San Diego
Catholic Charities is another particularly useful organization to know because its immigration program has experience coordinating services after detention, including:
- temporary housing;
- food; and
- travel arrangements.
Its detained-services work has included both Otay Mesa and Imperial Regional Detention Facility.
Catholic Charities Diocese of San Diego Immigrant Services
San Diego Rapid Response
The San Diego Rapid Response Network can also be reached at:
619-536-0823
Imperial Regional Detention Facility
For people detained at Imperial Regional Detention Facility near Calexico, I would start with:
Catholic Charities Diocese of San Diego
Catholic Charities’ immigration program specifically works with detained clients at Imperial Regional Detention Facility and describes its post-release coordination as including temporary housing, food, and travel arrangements.
That makes it particularly useful when a client is released in Imperial County but needs to travel elsewhere in California or across the country.
Catholic Charities Immigration Services
For additional assistance, there are also established community organizations active around Imperial Regional, including the Imperial Liberation Collaborative, Imperial Valley Equity and Justice Coalition, ACLU of San Diego & Imperial Counties, Southern California Immigration Project and TODEC.
California’s Eight Current ICE Detention Centers
As of August 2026, the practical map looks like this:
| Facility | Location | Start Here |
|---|---|---|
| California City Immigration Processing Center | California City | KWESI |
| Mesa Verde ICE Processing Center | Bakersfield | KWESI |
| Golden State Annex | McFarland | KWESI |
| Central Valley Annex | McFarland | KWESI |
| Adelanto ICE Processing Center | Adelanto | AVAN / Inland Empire Rapid Response |
| Desert View Annex | Adelanto | AVAN / Inland Empire Rapid Response |
| Otay Mesa Detention Center | San Diego | Detention Resistance / Catholic Charities |
| Imperial Regional Detention Facility | Calexico | Catholic Charities |
California had seven active facilities during the state’s 2025 inspection cycle, including the newly opened California City facility. Central Valley Annex subsequently opened in April 2026, bringing the current total to eight.
Do Not Wait Until the Client Is Standing Outside the Gate
This is probably the most important practical lesson.
If you are litigating a TRO, habeas petition, bond issue, or other matter that could result in immediate release, start release planning while the motion is pending.
Community groups can do much more with several hours or a day’s warning than with a telephone call saying:
“The judge just granted the writ and ICE says they are releasing him tonight.”
That is particularly true for California City, McFarland, Adelanto, and Imperial County.
Before contacting a release organization, obtain:
- the client’s full name;
- A-number;
- detention facility;
- likely release date or window;
- attorney’s cell number;
- client’s destination city and state;
- name and telephone number of the family member or sponsor receiving them;
- client’s preferred language;
- whether the client has identification;
- whether the client has a working telephone;
- whether the client has money or access to funds;
- whether family can purchase transportation;
- any disability, mobility, medical, or medication issue relevant to travel; and
- whether overnight lodging may be necessary.
Do not send sensitive medical or immigration information to volunteers unless it is actually necessary to coordinate the client’s release and the client has authorized you to do so.
After the Court Orders Release
For attorneys, I recommend treating release as its own short checklist.
- Immediately transmit the order to government counsel.
- Confirm that ICE and the detention facility have actually received authorization to release the client.
- Notify the release-support organization of the expected window.
- Identify who is physically meeting the client at the facility.
- Confirm the client has received their property and documents.
- Get the client somewhere safe before worrying about long-distance transportation.
- Arrange bus, rail, or air travel.
- Make sure the client has a working telephone and charger.
- Make sure the client has food, medication if applicable, and enough money for the trip.
- Confirm that the receiving family member or sponsor knows when and where the client will arrive.
And anticipate delays.
An order saying “immediately release” does not necessarily mean the client will walk through the gate ten minutes later. Conversely, a facility may release someone late in the evening when public transportation is limited or nonexistent.
A hotel for one night may be dramatically safer than trying to construct a midnight journey from a remote detention facility.
One More Thing: Give These Organizations Money
If you practice detained immigration law and your client can afford transportation, have the family purchase the ticket.
If they cannot, consider helping these organizations replenish the funds they are spending on our clients.
KWESI’s numbers make the economics unusually transparent: a hotel room, a phone, meals, and long-distance transportation can easily turn a single habeas release into several hundred dollars of expenses. KWESI notes that its volunteers frequently pay these costs themselves.
Lawyers benefit enormously from having community members willing to drive to a detention facility, wait through unpredictable release times, give someone a meal, find them a bed, put them on the right bus or plane, and make sure that an order granting freedom actually results in the person getting home.
We should support the people doing that work.
Quick Reference
1. Kern County: KWESI is the gold-standard contact
This covers California City, Mesa Verde, Golden State Annex, and Central Valley Annex.
Kern Welcoming & Extending Solidarity to Immigrants (KWESI)
Phone: (661) 228-7814
Email: KWESIorganization@gmail.com
KWESI explicitly describes its Post-Release Program as volunteers:
picking people up when released and ensuring they get home to their loved ones.
Their assistance includes food, clothing, travel supplies and short-term shelter. They also solicit funds specifically for long-distance reunification, explaining that approximately $500 may be needed to send a person who wins habeas across the country to family. KWESI says its volunteers now work with all four Kern County detention facilities: one in Bakersfield, two in McFarland, and one in California City.
Kern backup
Kern County Rapid Response Network: (661) 432-2230
Central Valley Watch: (559) 206-0151
Those numbers are currently published by CLUE for immigration rapid response in Kern County and the Central Valley.
For a Lal Legal habeas release from any Kern facility, I would contact KWESI first.
2. Adelanto + Desert View: AVAN
Both Adelanto facilities are covered by the Adelanto Visitation & Advocacy Network (AVAN). Freedom for Immigrants identifies AVAN as the visitation/support organization for both Adelanto ICE Processing Center and Desert View Annex.
Coordinator: Blanca Malpartida-Girard
Email: blancamg2040@gmail.com
AVAN provides case management and referrals for legal and nonlegal needs. More importantly for releases, CLUE describes its Adelanto support network as helping people obtain transportation upon release, housing, bond assistance and legal aid.
Adelanto backups
CLUE Justice: (213) 481-3740
San Bernardino/Riverside Rapid Response: (909) 361-4588
For a habeas order, I would email AVAN while simultaneously calling the Inland Empire rapid-response number if release is imminent.
3. Otay Mesa: Detention Resistance
Detention Resistance / Otay Mesa Detention Resistance
Email: detentionresistance@gmail.com
Detention Resistance maintains direct relationships with people detained at Otay Mesa and has a detainee direct-support/post-release component that assists with logistics once someone gets out. Current San Diego community resources continue to identify the organization as actively supporting people detained at Otay Mesa.
Freedom for Immigrants also identifies two established Otay Mesa support programs:
Detention Resistance
Coordinator historically listed as Ruth Mendez
SOLACE — Interfaith Detention Center Visitation Project
Coordinators Jane Uhle and May Jones
Excellent institutional backup: Catholic Charities San Diego
Catholic Charities Immigrant Services
4575 B Mission Gorge Place, San Diego
(619) 287-1270
IMMHELP@CCDSD.org
Catholic Charities has operated reception/post-release services involving contacting family, arranging travel, providing supplies for the journey and arranging temporary shelter.
4. Imperial Regional Detention Facility: Catholic Charities
This one has a particularly good institutional option.
Catholic Charities Diocese of San Diego — Imperial County
250 West Orange Avenue
El Centro, CA 92243
Phone: (760) 370-3914
Email: IMMHELP@CCDSD.org
Catholic Charities’ detained immigration program specifically visits clients at Imperial Regional Detention Facility and coordinates post-release services including:
- temporary housing
- food
- travel arrangements
That makes it a very strong first call for a habeas release from Imperial.
Catholic Charities also presently runs migrant-support operations in Imperial County, including services for recently released migrants.
Main agency backup: (619) 323-2841.
This guide is current as of August 21, 2026. Organizations are independent nonprofits and volunteer networks, and services depend on volunteer capacity and available funding. Contact an organization as early as possible rather than assuming transportation or lodging will be available on the day of release.
If you know of an organization providing detention-release pickup, shelter, transportation, phones, meals, or reunification assistance at a California detention facility that should be added to this guide, please contact us so we can keep the list current.