By The Epoch Times | Created at 2026-08-19 21:41:35 | Updated at 2026-08-19 21:48:18
12 minutes ago
United States Border Patrol agents monitor the Southern border outside of San Diego, on May 27, 2026. John Fredricks/The Epoch Times
California’s San Diego County will stop allowing federal immigration authorities to use a local firing range amid concerns about the Trump administration’s immigration enforcement practices.
The county supervisors voted 3–2 to end training contracts held by the San Diego Regional Firearms Training Center with Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and Customs and Border Protection (CBP) on Aug. 18.
“Federal immigration agents have harmed our communities many different ways here locally and throughout the nation,” said Monica Montgomery Steppe, one of the supervisors who voted to end the contracts.
“We just don’t want to be complicit in that.”
The officers who train at the firing range conduct immigration and customs enforcement checks at the U.S.–Mexico border and have been training there for decades.
The facility is near the Mexican border and an area Navy facility.
President Donald Trump has put an emphasis on immigration control as a key part of the current administration.
U.S. CBP Commissioner Rodney S. Scott told The Epoch Times in an emailed statement that he is disappointed to learn of the supervisors’ decision, saying the county officials are “poised to put politics and personal opinions over the economic security and public safety of the region.”
Scott said that the CBP San Diego Field Office relies on the training center, and this change will “immediately and directly impact the efficient cross border flow of legitimate international trade and travel across San Diego County.”
San Diego County’s elected sheriff, Kelly Martinez, said in a statement she notified ICE of the change after the vote, saying the decision was reached “after months of conversations and hearing community concerns surrounding the actions of ICE agents during armed confrontations in other parts of the country.”
However, she said CBP would be allowed to continue using the facility, despite the county supervisors’ decision.
“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.”
Roughly 1,700 CBP officers are assigned to the ports of entry in San Diego County, all of whom use the San Diego Regional Firearms Training Center for live-fire firearms training and mandatory firearms qualifications.
“If the San Diego County Board of Supervisors terminates the license agreement … Local ports will experience an immediate reduction in deployable staffing,” Scott said. “This will result in increased wait times at San Ysidro, Otay Mesa, Tecate, CBX, and the San Diego International Airport and Seaport.”
The commissioner went on to say that the impacts will include lane closures and decreased staff to process travelers.
“The San Diego County Board of Supervisors’ reckless, irresponsible, and ignorant proposal to limit the preparedness of frontline CBP personnel endangers lives and will cause immediate economic harm,” Scott said. “The San Diego County Board of Supervisors is poised to slam on the brakes at all San Diego County ports for political reasons.”
ICE did not immediately respond to The Epoch Times’ request for comment.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
