On Tuesday, the San Diego County Board of Supervisors voted 3‑2 to end long‑standing contracts that let Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and Customs and Border Protection (CBP) use two local firing ranges for firearms training. The decision affects a county‑owned range near the U.S.–Mexico border and a Navy‑owned range at Marine Corps Air Station Miramar that the county leases.
Board rationale and community pressure
Supervisors who supported the motion, including Monica Montgomery Steppe and board chair Terra Lawson‑Remer, said federal immigration agents have harmed local communities in multiple ways and the county should not be complicit in those actions. Residents had been urging the board to cut the contracts, arguing that the agreements effectively aid the Trump administration’s mass‑deportation agenda, which they say has split families and sparked violent confrontations between federal agents and citizens across the country.
Opposing view
Supervisor Jim Desmond, who voted against ending the contracts, argued that law‑enforcement agencies need to train together and that requiring agents to travel farther for training would not improve the situation. He suggested that more training, not less, is the answer to concerns about ICE overreach.
Impact on federal agencies
Customs and Border Protection’s head, Rodney Scott, noted that the county’s range supports the training of roughly 1,700 officers. Without access to the facility, CBP would have to relocate training elsewhere, potentially reducing local staffing levels and affecting trade and travel across the busy border corridor.
ICE did not respond to requests for comment.
History of the agreements
CBP has used the county’s training center since 2017, and ICE began its agreement in 2021. Federal agents have logged more than 3,300 training hours at the county range since 2024, according to a letter from the supervisors who proposed ending the contracts. ICE also has an agreement, dating to 2022, to use the Navy‑owned range at Miramar.
Local implications
Board members who voted to end the contracts emphasized the importance of maintaining trust with immigrant communities and distinguishing local police work from federal immigration enforcement. They pointed to the difficulty of identifying federal agents in the community, as many operate in plain clothes and masks.
“Our community is a home, not a target,” Lawson‑Remer said. “If the federal government wants to fund its deportation agenda, it should use its own resources rather than relying on local partners.”
The vote places San Diego County among a handful of jurisdictions that have chosen to withdraw support for federal immigration training, while nearby cities such as Escondido and other municipalities in New York and Minnesota have kept their contracts in place.
Original reporting: Alexandria, VA News – WTOP News — read the source article.
