Every year, thousands of people are held inside privately run immigration detention facilities across California — more than 6,000 right now, many for months at a time. When something goes wrong inside those walls, the people who call for help often can't get anyone to answer for what happened. Journalists and family members who ask for 911 call records are met with silence, and the companies that run these facilities have no obligation to explain.

At least 55 people have died in U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) custody since President Trump returned to office, six of them in California. State investigators and watchdog groups have found troubling patterns of denied medical care and abusive conditions inside the state's eight privately run detention facilities — facilities paid for with billions of taxpayer dollars.

California's SB 423 would finally require local agencies to release 911 call recordings and records from these facilities when the public asks for them, with narrow exceptions for active investigations and protections that redact the names of people involved. "When families' safety, health and wellbeing are at stake, transparency is not optional—it is urgent," said State Sen. Lena Gonzalez, the bill's author.

Families with loved ones inside these facilities deserve to know what happens when an emergency call goes out. So does the public that funds these facilities. Members of the California State Assembly and Governor Gavin Newsom should support SB 423 and make sure it becomes law before this legislative session ends.

Sign the petition to demand transparency for families with loved ones in ICE detention — before another emergency call goes unanswered and unexplained.