An environmental impact report released last week for a shuttered prison in Dublin has brought the facility one step closer to being repurposed as a federal immigration detention center.
Federal Correctional Institution, Dublin was a low-security women’s prison that was closed in 2024 due to rampant sexual abuse of incarcerated women at the hands of prison guards, inadequate oversight, and infrastructure issues.
In 2025, reports emerged that President Donald Trump’s administration was considering reopening the facility to detain immigrants, prompting local leaders to issue statements against the plan.
At a news conference held Tuesday, activists drew attention to a new Federal Bureau of Prisons environmental impact report that marks the first step in the process to repurpose this facility.
The news conference was organized by the California Collaborative for Immigrant Justice, an immigrant rights nonprofit, and the ICE Out of Dublin Coalition, comprising local groups opposed to immigration enforcement in the city.
“The report confirms what we already know,” said Susan Beaty, attorney at the California Collaborative for Immigrant Justice, “which is that the facility is unsafe, uninhabitable, and has serious infrastructure issues that will cost tens of millions of dollars to repair.”
Beaty said that the 2,731-page report reveals that the facility is an active cleanup site that has a leaking sewage system and contamination from diesel fuel, asbestos, lead paint, and mold, posing serious health hazards to any detainees housed there in the future.
Rust stains and mold
Aimee Chavira, who was incarcerated at FCI Dublin when it was operational, said that she was instructed to paint over the mold in the cells before health inspections, and that incarcerated women often had to use towels with rust stains.
“The water would come out brown, and girls started getting sick. I got sick,” said Chavira. “This prison is not livable for anyone.”
The environmental impact report recommends that the Federal Bureau of Prisons permanently deactivate and close the prison. But Beaty explained that this would actually clear the path for the agency to hand over the facility to the U.S. General Services Administration, a federal agency that transfers assets from one agency to another.
In this case, the GSA could take over management of the FCI Dublin site from the Bureau of Prisons and transfer it to the Department of Homeland Security to repurpose it as an immigration detention facility.
“Do we want these horrible things happening in our backyard? The Dublin community needs parks for your kids, warehouses — build a Costco, but not another detention facility.”
Aimee Chavira, former FCI Dublin inmate
The Bureau of Prisons is required to receive public comment on the issue until June 1, after which it will publish the feedback and disclose its decision. What happens after that, and its timeline, is unclear at the moment, said Beaty.
Meanwhile, the ICE Out of Dublin coalition is asking Dublin and Bay Area residents to submit public feedback to the Bureau of Prisons, asking the agency to demolish FCI Dublin.
“Do we want these horrible things happening in our backyard?” said Chavira. “The Dublin community needs parks for your kids, warehouses — build a Costco, but not another detention facility.”
Last month, the Alameda County Board of Supervisors passed a unanimous resolution opposing the reopening of FCI Dublin as a detention facility for immigrants or U.S. citizens.
At the time, Supervisor David Haubert said, “This [resolution] is symbolic because the federal government can do whatever it wants to do. But this is an expression of our community that we do not want this.”