At the weekly Courage in Community Rally, San Diego County Board Chair Terra Lawson-Remer joined the large crowd and described being denied entrance to Otay Mesa Detention Center last Friday along with Board Pro Tem Paloma Aguirre. They were blocked even though they had received clearance to enter the facility under California laws that empower state, county and local officials the authority to review health and safety conditions in privately-run immigration detention facilities.

Click on this link to hear Lawson-Remer’s remarks at the rally: STLR Rally.mp4 - Google Drive

Lawson-Remer has helped organize and sponsor the weekly rallies since they began in 2025 and last month won final approval for her local efforts to strengthen civil rights protections by passing the County’s Civil Liberties Enforcement and Accountability Rules (CLEAR) ordinance, which reinforces constitutional safeguards at the local level even as federal enforcement actions raise alarm nationwide.