Federal Limits

Limit 04 of nine · Private detention

Limit for-profit detention

Detention +71%, facilities +78% — 39 deaths in custody, the most since 2003.

The problem

For-profit detention is the engine of the surge: the bed count is the removal capacity. After the federal detention-oversight office was dissolved in March 2025, the number of people held rose 71% and the number of facilities holding them rose 78% — backing a 100,000-bed target, with $2.1 billion to one contractor and $653 million to another in a single year. The more beds they fill, the more they are paid.

What the law does

Bars private contractors from operating civil detention in the state, and withholds the state permits, funding, and leases that enable it.

Where it stands

Where it stands — all 52 jurisdictions6 of 52 have this limit; 2 at full strength
full partial none red underline = state law mandates cooperation

Methodology v3.4 · scored Jun 10 2026

The model language

“No private contractor shall own, operate, or maintain a civil immigration detention facility within the State.”

— Section 4 · Private Detention Industry Restrictions, The Federal Limits Act
Read the full model bill →

What we propose

Withhold the state’s own permits, funding, leases, and zoning from for-profit civil detention — the lever courts have left standing — and bar private operation where it holds, with a phase-out and a severability clause so the property prongs survive if the operating ban is enjoined. Model: Illinois 730 ILCS 141 (federal challenge dismissed); Maryland HB 1018 (zoning).

Who’s already done it

6 states have acted; only Illinois and Oregon at full strength. Illinois’s 2019 Moratorium Act is the durable model — its federal challenge was dismissed; California’s flat ban was struck, which is exactly why the Illinois design matters.

On the record

Status: mixed — flat bans have been struck; the durable slice is the state’s own permits, funding, and leases (the Illinois model).

One of nine.
Not the whole fight.

See where your state stands on all nine limits, or read the model bill section that closes this one.

Check your state → ← Back to the Nine