San Diego County filed a federal lawsuit Tuesday alleging that Immigration and Customs Enforcement illegally blocked county health inspectors from conducting a routine public health inspection at the Otay Mesa Detention Center, marking what is believed to be the first time a local government has sued the federal government over access to an immigration detention facility.
The lawsuit, filed in the Southern District of California, asserts that county health officials have clear statutory authority under California law to inspect any facility within the county where people are confined, regardless of whether it is operated by federal, state, or private entities. ICE denied inspectors entry on two occasions in February, according to the complaint, citing federal sovereignty and ongoing operational security concerns.
Inside Otay Mesa
The Otay Mesa Detention Center, operated by private contractor CoreCivic under an ICE contract, has a rated capacity of approximately 1,100 detainees. Current population figures are not publicly available, but attorneys who represent clients held at the facility estimate the population has exceeded 1,500 in recent weeks as the nationwide detained population has surged past 70,000.
Detainees and their attorneys have reported deteriorating conditions including inadequate medical staffing, extended lockdowns, and commissary shortages. Two detainees have died at the facility since October — one from what was described as a cardiac event, the other from an apparent suicide. Families trying to visit someone at the facility have reported extended wait times and reduced visiting hours since the population increase.
The facility has a troubled history. During the COVID-19 pandemic, Otay Mesa experienced one of the largest outbreaks in any detention facility in the country, resulting in the death of a detainee in 2020 and prompting a federal judge to order population reductions. Advocates say the current crowding rivals those pandemic-era levels.
The Legal Fight Over Inspections
At the heart of the lawsuit is a collision between federal authority over immigration enforcement and the longstanding power of local health departments to inspect confined-living facilities. San Diego County argues that its inspection authority is a basic public health function — not an attempt to interfere with immigration policy — and that the detainees held at Otay Mesa have the same right to safe and sanitary conditions as people held in any county jail or state prison.
ICE has not filed a formal response to the lawsuit but has previously maintained that federal facilities are not subject to state or local inspection regimes. The agency has argued that it conducts its own internal inspections and that detention facilities are subject to federal detention standards enforced through contract compliance mechanisms.
Critics counter that ICE’s internal inspection system is inadequate. A 2025 report by the Department of Homeland Security’s Office of Inspector General found that nearly 40 percent of inspected facilities had deficiencies related to medical care, and that corrective action plans were frequently incomplete or overdue.
National Implications
Legal experts say the case could have significant implications beyond San Diego. At least a dozen other counties across California, Texas, and New Jersey have expressed interest in conducting similar inspections of immigration detention facilities within their jurisdictions. A ruling in San Diego County’s favor could open the door to local health oversight of a federal detention system that has historically operated with limited external scrutiny.
California Attorney General Rob Bonta issued a statement supporting the county’s position, calling the right to inspect facilities where people are confined “a fundamental component of public health governance.” Several members of the state’s congressional delegation have introduced federal legislation that would explicitly authorize state and local health inspections of all immigration detention facilities — though the bill faces long odds in the current Congress.
A Broader Pattern of Resistance
The lawsuit is the latest in a series of legal challenges by state and local governments pushing back against the federal government’s expanded immigration enforcement operations. Cities including Chicago, Denver, and New York have filed suits challenging various aspects of the enforcement expansion, while several states have enacted or strengthened sanctuary policies limiting local cooperation with ICE. Understanding the differences between jails, prisons, and detention centers is important context for evaluating the overlapping jurisdictional questions at the heart of these disputes.
For San Diego County officials, the issue is simpler than the politics suggest. “This is about whether people in a facility in our county are living in safe and sanitary conditions,” County Supervisor Terra Lawson-Remer said at a press conference announcing the lawsuit. “That is a public health question, and we have both the authority and the obligation to answer it.”
