ICE, border agents have quietly used San Diego County Sheriff’s gun range for years

The San Diego County Sheriff’s Office has allowed federal immigration agents to use a law enforcement training center and firing ranges in Otay Mesa for years, despite efforts by county officials to limit the use of local resources for President Donald Trump’s immigration crackdown. 

Since January, Homeland Security agents have racked up hundreds of hours at the San Diego Regional Firearms Training Facility and thousands of dollars in rental payments to the sheriff. 

Documents obtained by inewsource show that the county has five active agreements dating back to at least 2017 allowing Immigration and Customs Enforcement, Customs and Border Protection and several of their subagencies to use the training facility for an hourly fee. 

The compound at 440 Alta Road includes five firing ranges, five classrooms, two “indoor close-quarters training environments,” a defensive tactics training room and an auditorium. 

Sheriff Kelly Martinez, who was elected in 2022, wasn’t the first to allow federal agencies to use the facility, which is operated alongside the Federal Bureau of Investigations and the District Attorney’s Office. It’s been the “primary training hub” for law enforcement in the area for decades, said Lt. David Collins, director of media relations for the Sheriff’s Office. 

But Martinez’s support for sharing the facility comes as the Trump administration’s aggressive immigration campaign has swept up thousands in San Diego and Imperial counties – most of whom have no criminal record – and sent fear throughout immigrant communities.

Her support also comes as the San Diego County Board of Supervisors, under the leadership of Chair Terra Lawson-Remer since January 2025, has approved policies aimed at protecting immigrants’ access to county resources and maintaining trust in local law enforcement by limiting cooperation with immigration authorities. 

In a statement, Martinez said federal agents are better prepared to operate in communities and “prevent harm” by using the training center. She added that her office does not assist federal agencies with enforcing immigration law. 

“I cannot afford to make decisions based on politics,” she said. “I must focus on the greater good and what keeps our communities safe.”  

Lawson-Remer said in a statement of her own through a spokesperson that she “was unaware of a firing range and will be getting to the bottom of this.” 

“We have been doing everything we can to ensure the protection of our immigrant neighbors and stop the lawlessness of ICE,” Lawson-Remer said. 

A spokesperson for the Department of Homeland Security said they would “not confirm locations” where “officers are training and put their lives at risk” and cited agency statistics on assaults on officers. The spokesperson also linked to a webpage that describes training for ICE recruits and outlines the skills that are taught there. 

Since 2024, ICE and CBP have logged about 3,350 hours and spent nearly $235,000 to access the facility, according to a billing sheet from the Sheriff’s Office. Federal contracting data shows that the Department of Homeland Security has paid the Sheriff’s Office for an unspecified “firing range” going back to 2008.

This year through April, ICE officers have trained at the compound for 100 hours and CBP agents have trained there for nearly 250 hours, though some additional hours may not yet have been posted, according to Collins. 

The Sheriff’s Office said the money raised by renting out the facility goes toward its upkeep and that the loss of the revenue would “significantly hinder our ability to train” deputies and other local, state and federal partners. 

Collins said partnerships between multiple levels of law enforcement, including sharing resources, expertise and funding, are a “force multiplier” for public safety and that the San Diego region deals with narcotics trafficking and other transnational threats that require collaboration.

But advocates for immigrants have sounded an alarm for years that collaboration between local law enforcement and immigration authorities has its own risks for public safety. 

“It means that victims are not going to come forward, witnesses are not going to come forward and report when they see crimes,” said Erin Tsurumoto Grassi, associate director at Alliance San Diego, an immigrant advocacy group. 

“And that impacts the safety of everyone,” she added.  

Tsurumoto Grassi also said that stronger policies surrounding when federal agents can use force on the job – not simply more training with firearms – would do more to prevent harm in communities, such as the killings of U.S. citizens Alex Pretti and Renee Good in Minneapolis earlier this year.

Martinez, however, said in her statement that she was “confident” in her office’s relationships with migrant communities and pointed to “the hundreds of people who attend our community forums, those who partner with us, and those who continue to call us to report crimes and provide information as witnesses, regardless of immigration status.”

The revelation of the county’s agreements with Homeland Security comes months after an outcry from Escondido residents over a similar agreement involving ICE’s use of a firing range in northeastern San Diego County. L.A. Taco first reported on that agreement in January.

The next month, at a crowded Escondido City Council meeting, a few residents spoke in favor of the arrangement, but dozens of community members urged the city to cancel it. 

City officials declined to cancel a contract renewal, which had just been signed for the 2026 calendar year.