San Diego County Bans ICE from Firearms Training Ranges

The San Diego County Board of Supervisors voted 3-2 on August 18 to terminate license agreements allowing U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) to use county-run firearms ranges. The decision targets the San Diego Regional Firearms Training Center in Otay Mesa and a leased facility at Marine Corps Air Station Miramar. Board Chair Terra Lawson-Remer and Supervisor Paloma Aguirre led the effort, arguing that local public facilities should not support the Trump administration's mass deportation agenda.

Following the vote, San Diego County Sheriff Kelly Martinez implemented a split enforcement policy. Martinez notified ICE that its access to the facilities is terminated, citing community concerns over agent conduct. However, she announced that CBP officers will continue to use the Otay Mesa range. Martinez argued that removing CBP access would pull officers away from inspection lanes, increasing border wait times and harming regional commerce.

CBP Commissioner Rodney S. Scott condemned the board's decision as political, warning that the loss of training sites for 1,700 officers would reduce deployable staffing and cause economic harm at ports of entry and the San Diego International Airport. Supervisors Lawson-Remer and Aguirre dismissed these warnings as fear tactics, asserting that the federal government has sufficient resources to secure alternative training sites and that border delays are caused by federal policy rather than training access.