Newsom slaps 25% tax on private detention centers in sweeping pushback against key Trump policy

It also poses questions about what would happen if all eight of ICE's detention centers chose to suspend operations in California.

That's the view of Hans von Spakovsky, senior legal fellow and an immigration expert with Advancing American Freedom, a conservative-leaning think tank.

"It's very clear that there's only one purpose to this California gigantic tax increase, and that is to make sure that the federal government cannot find any private property owners, any private contractors in California that are willing to lease space to the federal government," Spakovsky said in an interview with Fox News Digital.

"The alternative for the federal government is to look at all the different federal properties that the government actually owns out there, over which neither Newsom nor anybody else in California can impose any kind of tax, and see if any of those federal facilities can be converted to being a detention facility."

Spakovsky explained that could mean repurposing warehouses or office space.

Revenue from the bill will go to a Due Process for All Fund, designated for immigration-related services, according to the bill's language. Now that AB 1633 has been signed into law, it will go into effect July 1, 2028.

Newsom also signed a handful of other restrictions.

"We're also banning the Orwellian practice of using shock gloves in enforcement activity as well as further protecting access to our court system," Newsom said.

"We may not be able to dictate federal immigration policy, but we can make clear that activities taking place in California will be subject to California law."

"If you look at that report, currently ICE has about enough detention space for about 66,000 aliens. OK, that's the full size of the federal government's detention capacity," Spakovsky said.

If an entire state's private detention contractors decided the tax is too high, ICE's overall capacity could shrink.

The GEO Group, a corrections company, owns five facilities. Imperial Valley Gateway Center LLC, a local detention company, owns one more. Two more were purchased by DHS in July but are run by CoreCivic, a prison company, and have contracts through 2027 and 2029.

Although the bill won't go into effect until 2028, in Trump's last year of his second term, Spakovsky believes the government might begin evaluating where else it can find partnerships to meet its detention needs sooner rather than later.

"Look, if I was the federal government and I couldn't find enough federal properties in California to do this, I would then go into neighboring friendlier states that I could quickly transport aliens I've detained, and I would lease and rent facilities there.

"I'd go to Arizona. I'd potentially go to Nevada. I'd go to other states where they might be eager for federal government money and the increased employment from private contractors hiring people to work on these facilities."

The office of Gavin Newsom did not immediately respond to a request for comment from Fox News Digital.