‘What are they hiding?’ San Diego County supervisors denied access to ICE detention center

Concerned about conditions inside, two elected San Diego County supervisors set out to inspect the Otay Mesa Detention Center on Friday but were denied access. A county health inspector was allowed to see the kitchen and medical bays but not medical records or policies. No one from the county was allowed to talk to any of the detainees.

Terra Lawson-Remer, the chair of the county Board of Supervisors, and Paloma Aguirre, whose district includes the detention center, said they were talking to county lawyers about suing for access. The supervisors said they had received approval more than a week ago from local U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials, but that that was deemed insufficient Friday.

“We were granted that clearance by ICE,” Lawson-Remer said at a news conference shared on Instagram. “We all should be very, very worried about the conditions inside these facilities when they will not allow us access even with significant notice.”

“What are they hiding?” Aguirre asked.

According to average daily detention data, around 1,400 immigrants are being held at the Otay Mesa Detention Center amid record national growth in immigration detentions. It is the only ICE detention facility in San Diego County and is owned and operated by CoreCivic under a contract with the U.S. government. 

U.S. Sen. Alex Padila was also barred from entering on Friday afternoon. After, he told the media that he was disappointed but not surprised.

Friday’s episode follows several failed attempts by members of Congress in recent months to inspect Immigration and Customs Enforcement facilities in San Diego on unannounced visits. An email seeking comment from ICE on Friday was not immediately returned.

Detention center staff turned Rep. Juan Vargas, D-San Diego, away two weeks ago on Feb. 6. The detention center cited a policy requiring seven days’ notice to turn him away even though a federal judge had ruled days earlier that such a policy likely broke federal law.

Friday’s visit by San Diego County supervisors would have been the first full inspection under a 2024 state law that allows California counties to inspect private detention facilities. San Bernardino County officials conducted a food inspection at a facility in May. 

San Diego County officials gave more than a week’s notice of the inspection to the facility warden, Christopher LaRose. They sent him a letter on Feb. 9 stating a desire to visit.

Their request came eight days after immigrants at the detention center threw notes attached to lotion bottles over the facility’s fencing in which they described a lack of fresh food and a state of constantly being sick and cold, as L.A. Taco reported.

The day after that report, U.S. Rep. Juan Vargas attempted to visit the facility but was turned away. He said the dismissal was a departure from the past because he had always previously been allowed to inspect the facility, with or without advanced notice.

In October, Vargas and the other Democratic members of San Diego’s congressional delegation – U.S. Reps. Sara Jacobs, Mike Levin and Scott Peters – were twice turned away after attempting to inspect an ICE holding facility located in the basement of the Edward J. Schwartz federal building downtown.

“As Members of Congress, we have the right and the responsibility to enter detention sites in order to conduct oversight without prior authorization,” they wrote in a statement afterward.

Democratic lawmakers across the country have been denied access to ICE facilities as detainees and their advocates report overcrowding, spoiled food and inadequate medical care. Last year was the deadliest yet for immigration detention. Thirty-two people died, according to The Guardian. 

Since the beginning of this year, eight people have died in ICE custody in Texas, California, Pennsylvania, Georgia, Indiana and Florida. Luis Beltrán Yanez-Cruz died Jan. 6 at a hospital in Indio after being transported from a Calexico facility for medical care.

At the beginning of this year, Todd Lyons, acting director for ICE, issued a memo requiring a minimum of seven days advance notice to conduct inspections at ICE facilities. 

A federal judge in D.C. temporarily blocked the policy on Feb. 2, though it only applies to the plaintiff lawmakers in the case and leaves open the question of whether it can be legally enforced across the country. 

The supervisors’ attempted inspection was their latest response to President Donald Trump’s aggressive deportation campaign across the country and in San Diego County.

Earlier this year, the board passed an ordinance requiring federal immigration agents to present a judicial warrant before accessing county property. 

Before that, the supervisors passed a “super sanctuary policy” requiring ICE to get judicial warrants to detain people held at county jails. An inewsource analysis found that policy so far has been ignored by the San Diego County Sheriff’s Office. 

In an interview with inewsource after the supervisors were denied admittance, Lawson-Remer said she would ask her colleagues on the Board of Supervisors to take legal action to force a future inspection.

“It’s as if you came to inspect a restaurant … and someone let you into the lobby and then they kicked you out,” she said.  “We certainly would not be able to test whether that restaurant was being operated appropriately.”

Update, 4:15 p.m. Friday, Feb. 20: This story has been updated with the latest tally of the people who have died in ICE custody this year.

Update, 5:10 p.m. Friday, Feb. 20: This story has been updated with a comment from U.S. Sen. Alex Padilla and another quote from Supervisor Terra Lawson-Remer.