A showdown is shaping up between San Diego’s Board of Supervisors and the Sheriff’s Department over whether federal immigration agents should be allowed to continue firearms training on a shooting range owned by the county.
On Tuesday, the board voted 3-2 to terminate agreements with Immigration and Customs Enforcement and Customs and Border Protection over both agencies’ use of the San Diego Regional Firearms Training Center in Otay Mesa.
However, Sheriff Kelly Martinez swiftly intervened. She said that although she supports ending ICE’s firearms training at the site, she will allow CBP to continuing using the shooting range for training. It’s unclear how the conflict will play out.
The supervisors who voted in favor of terminating both ICE’s and CBP’s access to the range argued that agents’ use of the facility threatens the community’s trust in local government, following concerns over use of force during the Trump administration’s immigration crackdown.
However, the Sheriff’s Department, CBP, and the San Diego Regional Chamber of Commerce all expressed concerns that kicking CBP agents out of the training center would lead to longer wait times at the border and San Diego International Airport and hurt the local economy.
“CBP officers must be able to complete this [firearms] training efficiently and quickly return to their duties at the border ports of entry, cruise ship terminals, and the airport,” the Sheriff’s Department said in a statement Tuesday. “Without this ability, [border] lanes will close and wait times will be extended.”
The supervisors who wrote the motion, Paloma Aguirre and Terra Lawson-Remer, say that lengthy waits at the border are the responsibility of the federal government.
“I share our business community’s commitment to short lines and a thriving border,” Aguirre told the San Diego Union-Tribune. “The real threat to that economy is a federal government that pulls CBP officers off the lanes to run raids in American neighborhoods.”
Sheriff Martinez said Tuesday that although ICE’s primary mission is enforcing federal immigration law, CBP is focused on safeguarding borders and economic prosperity at ports of entry.
“Too many people on both sides of the border would be harmed by a decision to end CBP’s use of the facility,” Martinez said. “As sheriff, I have a duty to protect and serve everyone who lives in or enters San Diego County.”
Supervisors Aguirre and Lawson-Remer, however, pointed out that CBP agents have been heavily involved in the Trump administration’s mass deportation campaign.
They said that increased immigration enforcement had led vulnerable families in San Diego County to fear that accessing public services would expose them to deportation.
“When County facilities are used by federal immigration enforcement agencies, that fear is compounded, making it harder for residents to seek medical care, report crimes, enroll children in school, or engage with local institutions,” the item states.
Aguirre and Lawson-Remer could not immediately be reached for comment on what actions might be taken in the wake of the sheriff’s opposition.
The board vote was split along party lines, with Democratic Supervisors Aguirre, Lawson-Remer and Monica Montgomery Steppe in favor, and Republican Supervisors Jim Desmond and Joel Anderson in opposition.
The agenda item noted that ICE agents removed more than 16,000 people from San Diego County between January 2025 and April 2026. It also stated that there had been at least 41 shooting incidents, resulting in 11 fatalities, involving federal immigration agents during Trump’s second term.
Most of those shootings have involved ICE agents; there have also been instances, however, where CBP agents’ use of force has been questioned.
In August 2025, for example, CBP agents opened fire at a vehicle carrying a man and his 18-year-old son while conducting a traffic stop in San Bernardino. CBP alleged that the dad accelerated toward officers, but federal prosecutors later dropped all charges filed against him.
Since 2024, ICE and CBP have logged about 3,350 training hours at the San Diego Regional Firearms Training Center, according to the county.
ICE and CBP entered the license agreements to train at the Otay Mesa site in 2021, with ICE paying the county about $10,000 a year and CBP paying about $117,000. ICE also entered a separate agreement with the county in 2022 to use a firing range on Marine Corps Air Station Miramar, which is owned by the Navy and leased to the county.
Neither agreement initially came before the board for a vote, because the amount of money involved was small enough for them to be approved administratively. An April investigation by local news organization iNewsource brought the agreements into public light, prompting the debate over whether they should be allowed to continue.
A similar debate played out in February over ICE agents’ use of the the city of Escondido’s firing range. However, in that case the City Council opted to uphold its contract.
