Labor unions strongly oppose President Joe Biden‘s potential closure of a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement intake facility in California, foreshadowing a looming problem for the president heading toward the 2024 election.

The Adelanto ICE Processing Center, which is operated by the private GEO Group under a Department of Homeland Security contract that expires in February, can house nearly 2,000 immigrants but has remained virtually empty following a coronavirus outbreak in 2020. As of late 2023, the facility housed just six immigrants, and a September 2020 Department of Justice COVID-19 order continues to prevent the facility from admitting any new immigrants despite Biden’s ending of the COVID-19 emergency declaration in May of 2023.

And now, the Teamsters and the National Federation of Federal Employees are both petitioning the president and congressional lawmakers in letters, obtained by the Washington Examiner, not to close the Adelanto ICE Processing Center at the conclusion of its federal contract in the face of calls to do just that from Democratic lawmakers and immigration advocates.

In a letter sent to Capitol Hill offices, members of Teamsters local union no. 1932, which represents medical and mental health staffers working at Adelanto, wrote that the “highly diverse population” housed at Adelanto “requires a very distinct approach to their care.”

“Many of us see our work as much more than providing healthcare. It is a way to serve the greater good. Those of us who have chosen this profession did not do so with the intent of becoming wealthy. We chose this craft with the intent to provide care for a special population of people. This is not only the desire, but the passion that drives those of us in the medical profession to do what we do,” the members wrote. “In closing, we ask that you have the Department of Justice (DOJ) lift the court order that prevents intake and keep the Adelanto ICE Processing Center open. This will allow us to continue being the front line for public health and trauma-informed care. It is our obligation to provide this service, not just to the community of Adelanto, but also to our great nation.”

The Teamsters 1932 letter follows on a similar offering sent by Teamsters Union General President Sean O’Brien to Biden in late December “on behalf of the 1.3 million members of the International Brotherhood of Teamsters,” urging the president to lift the DOJ restrictions and extend the facility’s contract.

“The hardworking, professional nursing staff at Adelanto represented by Teamsters Local 1932 are committed to providing quality and humane treatment at the Processing Center, but we are deeply concerned that a failure by the courts or Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) to take commonsense action put these members jobs needlessly at risk,” O’Brien claimed. “While we are aware of the recent comments from ICE that it is reviewing the situation at Adelanto and that no final decision is made, we call on the Administration and ICE to protect our members’ jobs, and ensure that the facility remains open. To that end, it is also incumbent on the Department of Justice to take an active role in ensuring that the court orders which have prevented Adelanto from operating as intended are lifted.”

And in November, NFFE National President Randy Erwin requested a meeting with Biden’s Domestic Policy Council to discuss the situation at Adelanto and also wrote to to the president outlining “grave concerns” regarding the potential closing of the facility.

Erwin said that shutting Adelanto “would devastate our members, their families, and the Southern California communities where these proud union members work and live.”

“This Administration considering the closure of the Adelanto ICE Processing Center at a time when capacity is so desperately needed in this area is genuinely perplexing and seemingly counter-intuitive. In its October 20, 2023, supplemental request, your Administration called for funding 12,500 beds,” he continued. “It is wholly inconsistent with the supplemental request to ask for more funding for detention beds when Adelanto is already paid for under existing appropriations, and intake could begin quite quickly if doing so was prioritized by this Administration.”

Teamsters, NFFE Adelanto letters by Christian Datoc on Scribd

Rep. Jay Obernolte (R-CA), whose district includes Adelanto, told the Washington Examiner that Biden should not consider closing the facility given the historic surge in northern migration.

“The Adelanto ICE Processing Center with its over 1900 beds should be a vital contributor to ICE’s capacity to detain and process illegal immigrants,” Obernolte said in a statement. “Instead our country is experiencing the disastrous consequences of the Administration’s continued reliance on the policy of catch and release, which has resulted in millions of immigrants flooding into our communities, causing states, counties, and cities to declare a state of emergency due to the financial burden that the federal government has forced upon them. Making better use of facilities like the one in Adelanto is critical to solving this urgent problem.”

Biden scored endorsements from both Teamsters and NFFE in 2020, yet neither group has endorsed a candidate for the 2024 cycle. Meanwhile, former President Donald Trump has actively courted O’Brien and Teamsters members in recent weeks.

O’Brien met with Trump in person on Jan. 3, and the former president committed to sitting down with “rank-and-file Teamsters,” O’Brien, and Teamsters General Secretary-Treasurer Fred Zuckerman at a roundtable at the Teamsters’ international headquarters in Washington, D.C. later in January.

“There are serious issues that need to addressed to improve the lives of working people across the country, and the Teamsters Union is making sure our members’ voices are heard as we head into a critical election year,” O’Brien said of his meeting with Trump. “We thank the former President for taking time during this private meeting to listen to the Teamsters’ top priorities. And we are eager to bring together the rank-and-file for an important and necessary roundtable with President Trump this month.”

“Between his disastrous open border policies and his insane electric vehicle mandate, Joe Biden appears to have declared war on Union voters imperiling his chances in states such as Michigan and Pennsylvania,” Trump campaign spokesman Jason Miller additionally told the Washington Examiner.

The White House did not return requests for comment on the topic, and Biden’s 2024 campaign noted to the Washington Examiner that it’s typical for labor groups to conduct roundtables with presidential candidates. Biden consistently bills himself as the most “pro-labor” president in American history and has secured a number of other endorsements from unions, including the AFL-CIO, International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers, and more. Biden has not yet committed to taking part in a Teamsters roundtable like Trump has.

The Adelanto facility has caused controversy in the past, including accusations of inhumane conditions and medical care in 2015 which prompted dozens of lawmakers to call for its closure.

In 2018, DHS officials additionally recorded numerous violations of ICE’s health and safety standards at the facility, including nooses found in multiple detention cells.

Rep. Judy Chu (D-CA), citing those violations, called for DHS to completely close the facility in December of 2023.

“Adelanto’s deplorable conditions have been widely reported and the GEO Group, which runs the facility, has long been responsible for violating the constitutional rights of the people in its custody. The GEO Group, which operates the facility, has a history of violating detainees’ constitutional rights and a deadly track record of denying necessary medical and mental health treatment to immigrants at Adelanto, resulting in eight preventable deaths according to ICE’s investigation,” she wrote in a statement.

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ICE spokesperson Jenny Burke said in a statement that “no final decision” has been made regarding the Adelanto facility’s future and that the government and GEO are currently evaluating “factors to ensure that appropriate accommodations can be made for both personnel, operations, and individuals in custody.”

“ICE must consider the effect of ongoing litigation that prevents full use of the facility, likelihood of relief from that litigation, the cost associated with maintaining the facility and the operational requirements for effective national detention operations,” she wrote.