Those funds include $45 billion for building new immigration detention centers and $30 billion to boost enforcement and deportation operations. They were locked up in the state’s largest and newest detention center in the Mojave Desert, she said. Still, the state has broad authority to tax businesses as it sees fit, including contractors enabling detentions, Haney said. He acknowledged the proposed 50% tax on the gross receipts from detention contracts (before operating expenses) would be much larger than most state taxes, and could threaten the companies’ ability to operate in the state. “If they look at this tax and they say, ‘That’s too high for us to pay,’ then they can leave,” Haney said.