Court-Appointed Monitor Stands By Findings After CoreCivic and Federal Defendants Object to California City Detention Report

The court-appointed monitor overseeing conditions at the California City ICE detention facility told the parties on August 31, 2026 that he was standing by the findings in his Final Report after reviewing objections filed by the federal government and CoreCivic, the facility’s operator. The notice memorializing that response was jointly filed on the district docket on September 1, 2026 — three days ahead of the deadline the court had set.

The monitor, Dr. Muthusamy Anandkumar, was appointed in the spring to assess conditions at the facility under an injunction issued earlier in the year. His Final Report, filed July 27, 2026, found sustained violations. The government and CoreCivic filed formal objections on August 21, 2026; plaintiffs’ counsel responded August 28, 2026. In his email response, quoted in the September 1 filing, the monitor wrote that both sides had already had a chance to comment on an earlier draft, that “those comments were reviewed and considered, and revisions were made where appropriate,” and that after reviewing the new round of objections and responses, he “does not believe that any further changes or additional comments are necessary.” He said he stands by the Final Report as filed.

The case remains in active litigation. CoreCivic’s separate appeals of the underlying injunction and the monitor’s appointment, filed earlier in the year with the Ninth Circuit, remain pending; briefing in the consolidated appeal was still underway as of early September, with no ruling yet.

Sourcing note. Primary source is the joint notice itself — E.D. Cal. Dkt. 185, filed September 1, 2026 — which attaches the monitor’s August 31, 2026 email verbatim. Retrieved as a free RECAP copy via CourtListener. No press coverage of this specific filing was located as of this writing.