Does it harm your health? Does it put you in danger?

Those are basic questions local government exists to answer.

In San Diego County, we inspect restaurant kitchens and check grocery store scales. We enforce sanitation and food safety standards because families rely on them.

That responsibility does not stop at the walls of a detention facility.

A Disturbing Signal from Inside ICE’s Otay Mesa Detention Center

In recent weeks, detained individuals at the privately operated Otay Mesa Detention Center have reportedly thrown lotion bottles over the perimeter fence — each one containing handwritten pleas describing cold temperatures, inadequate medical care, and poor-quality food.

When someone has to throw a message over a fence just to be heard, something is wrong.

At the same time, the Trump administration has shut down routine congressional oversight. For the first time, Congressman Juan Vargas was denied entry to conduct a visit — a break from long-standing practice.

This is unfolding as deaths in ICE custody nationwide are rising, with 32 reported last year,  the highest total in two decades, and additional deaths already reported this year.

Investigating ICE’s Detention Facility

Supervisor Paloma Aguirre and I are taking action.

I directed our County Public Health Officer to initiate a public health inspection of the Otay Mesa Detention Center, and this week we submitted the required documentation to gain access.

California law gives counties the authority to inspect detention facilities when health conditions may put people at risk. To our knowledge, San Diego County will be the first in the state to use this authority in this way.

Detention does not erase a person’s right to humane conditions or access to medical care. When credible concerns are raised, your government has a duty to respond.