{"id":7290,"date":"2026-08-20T11:07:35","date_gmt":"2026-08-20T11:07:35","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/nextcitydigest.com\/?p=7290"},"modified":"2026-08-20T11:07:35","modified_gmt":"2026-08-20T11:07:35","slug":"california-county-supervisors-vote-to-end-ice-cbp-use-of-county-gun-ranges-but-sheriff-says-shell-still-allow-cbp","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/nextcitydigest.com\/?p=7290","title":{"rendered":"California county supervisors vote to end ICE, CBP use of county gun ranges \u2014 but sheriff says she\u2019ll still allow CBP"},"content":{"rendered":"
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The San Diego County Board of Supervisors voted 3-2 on Tuesday to terminate three license agreements allowing federal immigration agents and customs officers to train at two county-run firearms ranges \u2014 but Sheriff Kelly Martinez, citing economic concerns, said she would continue to allow U.S. Customs and Border Protection officers to train at one of those ranges.<\/p>\n

Read more Schiff: How Democrats can repair the broken Supreme Court<\/a><\/p>\n

The supervisors who proposed terminating the agreements said the measure was in line with their goal of ensuring the county does not support the Trump administration\u2019s immigration enforcement crackdown.<\/p>\n

But the head of CBP and local economic leaders argued such a move would complicate the ability for CBP officers to complete mandatory firearms training and qualifications, resulting in staffing issues and longer border wait times that would negatively impact the local economy.<\/p>\n

Board Chair Terra Lawson-Remer and Chair Pro Tem Paloma Aguirre, who proposed the measure, argued those concerns were unfounded, citing the hundreds of billions of dollars in funding that Congress has given to CBP and U.S. Customs and Immigration Enforcement over the past two years. The two supervisors argued the Trump administration was using the threat of border delays and economic impacts as a fear tactic.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt boggles the mind to think that a $110,000 contract (with CBP) at a county training facility could be the linchpin for a multi-billion dollar, cross-border operation,\u201d Lawson-Remer said during Tuesday\u2019s Board of Supervisors meeting.<\/p>\n

But shortly after the vote, the sheriff released a lengthy statement expressing her concern about the economic impact of stopping CBP officers from training at the county-owned San Diego Regional Firearms Training Center in Otay Mesa.<\/p>\n

The Sheriff\u2019s Office said that while Martinez already informed ICE that its personnel can no longer train at the Otay Mesa range and a second county-operated facility, she will continue to allow CBP to utilize the San Diego Regional Firearms Training Center.<\/p>\n

\u201cToo many people on both sides of the border would be harmed by a decision to end CBP\u2019s use of the facility,\u201d Martinez said in a statement. \u201cAs Sheriff, I have a duty to protect and serve everyone who lives in or enters San Diego County.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Lawson-Remer and Supervisor Monica Montgomery Steppe did not immediately respond to Martinez\u2019s assertion that she won\u2019t fully enforce the action their vote directed.<\/p>\n

In a statement, Aguirre promised that the board\u2019s vote will be fully implemented as intended.<\/p>\n

\u201cQuestions about implementation on County property are exactly that, implementation questions, and the (Chief Administrative Officer) and County Counsel are reviewing them,\u201d Aguirre said. \u201cThe Board has spoken and taken action for the people in my communities who are living in fear. But one thing is clear, this decision has been made and will be carried out.\u201d<\/p>\n

Supervisors Jim Desmond and Joel Anderson voted against the item. Both expressed concerns about the potential economic impact. Desmond said local and federal authorities are stronger when they collaborate.<\/p>\n

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\u201cOur agencies should be training together, not in isolation,\u201d Desmond said in a statement after the vote. \u201cWherever you stand on ICE, I believe we can all agree that more training is a good thing. Today\u2019s action puts politics and optics ahead of common sense and public safety.\u201d<\/p>\n

At its most basic, the proposal that the board approved directed a county administrator to terminate three existing license agreements with ICE and CBP.<\/p>\n

One agreement signed in 2017 allowed CBP personnel to train at the Regional Firearms Training Center, a county-owned facility jointly operated by the county Sheriff\u2019s Office, District Attorney\u2019s Office and FBI. The second agreement, signed in 2021, allowed ICE personnel to use the same facility.<\/p>\n

The third agreement, signed in 2022, allowed ICE personnel to use the Miramar Training Facility, a firing range located on Marine Corps Air Station Miramar. The range is owned by the U.S. Navy and leased to the county. The Sheriff\u2019s Office has operated the facility for more than two decades.<\/p>\n

Lawson-Remer and Aguirre said the three agreements were executed administratively without public input or consideration by the board because they fell below the monetary threshold requiring board approval. The agreements were brought to light in April by investigative news outlet inewsource.<\/p>\n

Read more Walters: How California\u2019s primary election reflects the perils facing the national Democratic Party<\/a><\/p>\n

Lawson-Remer and Aguirre argued that while the agreements did not technically violate the county\u2019s policies against assisting federal immigration enforcement, they violated the spirit of those policies.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen residents fear that County facilities are connected to immigration enforcement, they are less likely to seek public health services, report crimes, or engage with emergency response systems, undermining the County\u2019s capability to respond to community needs,\u201d the two supervisors wrote. \u201cTerminating these agreements helps ensure that all residents, regardless of immigration status, can access County services and participate in the systems that support individual, family, and community resilience.\u201d<\/p>\n

Dozens of members of the public spoke in favor of ending the agreements, and Aguirre read letters of support for the measure by local U.S. Reps. Juan Vargas and Scott Peters.<\/p>\n

Similar to arguments made by Lawson-Remer and Aguirre, Peters blamed long waits at the border on the Trump administration, which he said \u201cdragged CBP officers away from their jobs at the border to join ICE agents who are terrorizing our neighbors and neighborhoods.\u201d<\/p>\n

Peters said the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, the parent agency of both ICE and CBP, is \u201ccurrently better funded than the United States Marines \u2026 They can get their certifications anywhere without closing lanes at the port.\u201d<\/p>\n

The counterargument made by CBP and local economic development leaders was that CBP officers have no other local training options, and thus more time spent traveling to distant training facilities would mean less time that CBP officers could spend staffing border entry lanes.<\/p>\n

Sidney Aki, CBP\u2019s director of field operations for the San Diego Field Office, told the supervisors on Tuesday that no other range in the county has the capacity for the roughly 1,700 local CBP officers to train and qualify multiple times per year. That includes smaller commercial ranges and a U.S. Border Patrol range near the San Diego International Airport.<\/p>\n

Aki said the time each officer spends on training and training-related travel would double or triple if CBP lost access to the Otay Mesa range. He said that would affect staffing and border wait times despite DHS\u2019 massive budget increases.<\/p>\n

Alejandra Mier y Ter\u00e1n, executive director of the Otay Mesa Chamber of Commerce, told the supervisors that if they terminated CBP\u2019s agreement, wait times would \u201csoar,\u201d a pedestrian crossing in San Ysidro would close and \u201cbillions of dollars\u201d would be lost from the San Diego economy.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m literally begging you not to play a part in increasing wait times at our ports of entry,\u201d Mier y Ter\u00e1n said.<\/p>\n

Lawson-Remer and Aguirre acknowledged those arguments, but said they ignored reality.\u00a0\u201cJust last weekend, the wait times were eight hours at any regular lane,\u201d Aguirre said. \u201cThe lines at the border are not caused by a firing range.\u201d<\/p>\n

Aguirre said the Trump administration, if it wanted, could send more officers and resources to the local border to help ease congestion.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis county can\u2019t close a single lane,\u201d she said. \u201cThis is about whether this county keeps lending its own property to the agencies our residents fear the most. The federal government can\u2019t terrorize our families all week and rent our firing range on the weekend.\u201d<\/p>\n

Tuesday marked the second time Martinez has asserted her intention to break with the Board of Supervisors over an immigration-related issue.<\/p>\n

A month after President Donald Trump\u2019s 2024 election, the board passed a resolution aiming to bar county agencies from cooperating with federal authorities on immigration enforcement. Martinez immediately pushed back, saying that her office already followed state law limiting its cooperation with federal immigration authorities and would not change its practices based on the board\u2019s resolution.<\/p>\n

Read more Asking Eric: Her husband drinks so much that she\u2019s afraid to leave him alone<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Supporters of the measure said it was one way to fight back against Trump’s immigration crackdown, while critics argued it would cause delays at the border.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":7289,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-7290","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news"],"yoast_head":"\nCalifornia county supervisors vote to end ICE, CBP use of county gun ranges \u2014 but sheriff says she\u2019ll still allow CBP - Next City Digest<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/nextcitydigest.com\/?p=7290\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"California county supervisors vote to end ICE, CBP use of county gun ranges \u2014 but sheriff says she\u2019ll still allow CBP - 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