In the first major court test on whether federal agencies can block authorized county public health inspections of California’s private immigrant detention centers, a federal judge today affirmed San Diego County does have the police authority to conduct inspections of Otay Mesa Detention Facility and there will be irreparable harm if the inspections do not move forward.  

Federal Judge James Simmons Jr. indicated he would grant a preliminary injunction allowing San Diego County to inspect the privately operated Otay Mesa Detention Facility. He will formally rule on the public health inspections on May 27. 

“We are very encouraged by the Judge’s ruling and all the statements made today in court on the record,” said Damon Brown, San Diego County Counsel who was in the courtroom. “...I do believe the court’s recognition of the irreparable harm (if the inspection does not go forward) is the court’s expression of the harm that is happening and the immediacy of the need.”

During the next three weeks Judge Simmons ordered attorneys for San Diego County to meet and confer with federal attorneys for the Department of Homeland Security, ICE and CoreCivic to determine the scope and terms of the inspections including interviews with detainees, medical records and policies & procedures. CoreCivic is the Tennessee-based private prison company that owns and operates Otay Mesa. 

San Diego County Board Chair Terra Lawson-Remer and Board Chair Pro Tem Paloma Aguirre said today’s ruling is an affirmation of what they have been saying all along. 

“It affirms that we as the County of San Diego and public health authority in this region have both the right and the obligation to inspect the Otay Mesa Detention Center to insure the health and safety of everyone who is detained inside,” said Board Chair Terra Lawson-Remer. “We have been saying this over and over and the federal government has been trying to gaslight the public. Today the federal judge has made it very clear that we have the legal authority to conduct this inspection.” 

“We have a moral, ethical and legal responsibility as elected officials of the County Board of Supervisors. We are the highest level of public authority and it is our legal statutory authority to go in and do the inspections,” said Board Chair Pro Tem Paloma Aguirre.    

The County first requested an inspection of Otay Mesa Detention Center in February 2026 after receiving numerous complaints about poor conditions inside the facility. Federal officials initially approved the inspection but later reversed that decision and denied County officials a full inspection. The County Public Health Officer was allowed into Otay Mesa on the same day but was not permitted to interview anyone and was heavily restricted in what he was allowed to observe.  Both Supervisors Lawson-Remer and Aguirre were also approved to do an inspection on the same day but were turned away when they arrived and not allowed to enter the facility.   

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