Reps. Mike Levin and Sara Jacobs walked out of the Otay Mesa immigration detention center yesterday with a blunt verdict on what they had just seen. The San Diego County Democrats toured sleeping quarters, the cafeteria and medical bays in a visit coordinated with Immigration and Customs Enforcement and private operator CoreCivic, and they did not hold back afterward. Jacobs said the facility “really does feel like a criminal detention facility,” while Levin said it is not a place anyone should be forced to stay for long stretches.
What lawmakers saw
Levin told reporters that “it's nowhere you'd want to spend a long period of time,” according to the Times of San Diego. He and Jacobs said they pushed for the visit after hearing reports of medication shortages, inedible food and problems accessing medical records. ICE and CoreCivic staff led the scheduled walkthrough, steering the group through common areas and medical bays. The representatives said the clock ran out before they could sit down with anyone currently detained.
Conditions and who is being held
Jacobs told reporters the complex felt like a prison and that many of the people inside were in blue uniforms even though most have not been convicted of crimes, according to the Times of San Diego. Outside observers and reporters noted that roughly 1,037 people were in custody during the visit, per The Guardian. Levin said seeing that head count up close only underscored his push for more direct oversight.
How access became a flashpoint
Roughly six weeks earlier, Sen. Alex Padilla and Rep. Juan Vargas said they were turned away from Otay Mesa after ICE staff told them a seven-day notice was required, according to CalMatters. That rule has already landed in court. A federal judge on March 2 blocked the revived seven-day requirement, finding it likely violated appropriations law, as reported by Bloomberg Law.
County pushes back
San Diego County has taken its own fight to federal court, filing a lawsuit after being denied broader authority to inspect the facility, NBC 7 San Diego reported. County officials say public-health staff got only a quick look at kitchen areas and a couple of medical bays and were shut out of the policies and medical records they say are needed for a real review. The complaint asks a judge to order the Department of Homeland Security and its contractors to allow the inspections state law envisions.
Allegations and the operator
Advocates and past inspections have flagged allegations of sexual assault, medical neglect and overcrowding at Otay Mesa, and county health inspectors say they were blocked from performing state-required reviews, per CalMatters. The detention center is run under contract by private prison company CoreCivic, according to the company's facility page, CoreCivic. The firm did not immediately respond to requests for comment about the congressional visit or the county's lawsuit.
What comes next
Levin said he plans to keep showing up for oversight at Otay Mesa, and Jacobs argued that simply having elected officials on site can act as a check against mistreatment, according to The Guardian. For now, county lawyers, members of Congress and immigrant-rights advocates are expected to keep pressing for access to records and unfiltered inspections while the legal fight over who gets to look inside Otay Mesa plays out in court.
