San Diego County has initiated the public health inspection process at the Otay Mesa Detention Center. The County’s Public Health Officer today sent a letter to the facility’s senior warden, after County Board Chair Terra Lawson-Remer directed staff to assert the County’s authority to examine health and safety conditions inside the privately operated immigration detention facility. 

Click HERE to read the letter. 

The action follows reports that people detained at Otay Mesa have been throwing lotion bottles wrapped with handwritten notes over the facility’s perimeter fence during a weekly vigil,  a dangerous and extraordinary effort to communicate their allegations regarding conditions inside the detention center to the outside world. The notes allege cold temperatures, inadequate medical care, and poor-quality food.

“When people detained in a facility are reduced to throwing handwritten messages over a fence to be heard, that is a public health emergency signal,” said San Diego County Board Chair Terra Lawson-Remer. “The County is exercising its lawful authority to inspect conditions inside Otay Mesa because silence and secrecy are not acceptable when health and safety are at stake.”

Last Friday, U.S. Representative Juan Vargas attempted to conduct an unannounced oversight visit at Otay Mesa in response to the same complaints and was denied entry -  the first time he has been turned away from the facility, according to media reporting. The denial has intensified concerns about transparency and accountability inside the detention center.

The County’s action comes amid growing national scrutiny of immigration detention facilities, including widespread reporting on an increasing death toll in ICE custody and new federal policies that have restricted independent oversight and raised renewed concerns about medical access, sanitation, and conditions of confinement.

Under California Health and Safety Code, counties have clear authority to inspect detention facilities operating within their borders when public health is at issue, including facilities run by private contractors on behalf of federal agencies.

The planned inspection will focus on core public health conditions, including sanitation practices, access to medical care, temperature control, food safety, and compliance with applicable health standards. County officials have requested that the inspection be scheduled as soon as practicable and intend to publicly report findings following the visit.

Lawson-Remer has indicated she plans to accompany the County’s Public Health Officer during the inspection to observe conditions firsthand.

“This inspection will document the reality inside the facility,” Lawson-Remer said. “If conditions meet public health standards, the public deserves to know that. If they don’t, the County will act to protect human health.”