SAN DIEGO (AP) — A private prison firm that just won multibillion-dollar contracts to run federal immigration detention centers in California sued the state on Monday, claiming that a new ban on for-profit lockups in California is unconstitutional.
The GEO Group, Inc., argued in the federal suit that Assembly Bill 32, signed by Gov. Gavin Newsom in October, would unlawfully undermine enforcement criminal and immigration law. It asks a federal court to permanently bar the law from taking effect.
"There is a longstanding and clear-cut constitutional principle that individual states cannot regulate the actions and activities of the federal government," the Boca Raton, Florida company said in a statement.
AB 32 bars renewal of contracts with operators of private prisons. It also bars the
