San Diego County Votes 3-2 to Throw ICE and Border Patrol Off Its Firing Ranges — the Elected Sheriff Bans ICE but Keeps CBP, and the Acting ICE Director Calls It "Political Obstruction"
On August 18, 2026, the San Diego County Board of Supervisors voted 3-2 to terminate the agreements that let U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement and U.S. Customs and Border Protection train at the San Diego Regional Firearms Training Center on Alta Road in Otay Mesa — a county-owned facility a few miles from the Mexican border — and at a Navy facility the county leases. The proposal came from Supervisors Paloma Aguirre and Terra Lawson-Remer, who framed it as a refusal to let county property underwrite federal immigration raids. Supervisor Monica Montgomery Steppe provided the third vote; Republican Supervisor Jim Desmond voted no, arguing that badly behaved agents are an argument for more training, not less. Separately and on the same day, Sheriff Kelly Martinez — an independently elected officer who controls the range's day-to-day operations — announced she was barring ICE from sheriff's training sites and firearms qualifications, but would continue to allow CBP access, citing the harm to cross-border communities if the roughly 1,700 CBP officers who qualify there had to go elsewhere. CBP Commissioner Rodney Scott called the board's vote "unprecedented." On August 20, Acting ICE Director David Venturella issued a statement saying the agency "will not allow political obstruction" to keep its officers from training.
“ICE will not allow political obstruction to prevent our officers and agents from receiving the training they need to safely and effectively enforce the laws of the United States and carry out President Trump's mandate to restore integrity to our immigration system.”