A Marshall Project investigation found California has transferred more than 18,000 people from state prisons to ICE custody since 2015, including some with valid legal status and some whose convictions were later vacated. The California Values Act, the state's 2017 sanctuary law, restricts local police cooperation with immigration agents but was never written to cover the state prison system, leaving prison officials to coordinate transfers directly with ICE. The share of people ICE actually collects after a detainer has risen from about 72 percent in 2022 to roughly 88 percent more recently, and CDCR policy allows moving up a scheduled release date to hand someone to federal custody. More than 9,000 of the transfers have occurred since Gov. Gavin Newsom took office in 2019, and an ACLU lawsuit alleges the department has placed holds on people based on name, accent or appearance, an allegation the state disputes. The practice contrasts with Oregon's 2021 law barring such transfers.