San Diego council member asks Escondido to end ICE use of police training facility

A San Diego City Council member running for Congress is calling on Escondido to cancel its contract with the federal government that allows Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents to train at the Escondido Police Department’s outdoor shooting range.

“City resources should be used to keep all communities safe — not to train Trump’s deportation forces,” said San Diego Councilmember Marni von Wilpert, who is one of nearly a dozen candidates for the 48th Congressional District seat held by Rep. Darrell Issa.

ICE is one of about a dozen local, state and federal agencies that sometimes use the city’s firearms training facility, Escondido police Capt. Erik Witholt said Sunday.

“We do not train with them, we do not train them,” Witholt said. “They pay us to use the facility… One of our staff members goes out and unlocks the gate, then locks the gate when they’re done.”

Witholt did not know how many or how often ICE agents use the facility. All law enforcement officers are required to train periodically with the firearms they carry.

Von Wilpert said in a news release Saturday that she learned of the ICE contract from a story published Jan. 22 in the Los Angeles online magazine LA Taco.

Escondido awarded the one-year contract to the Department of Homeland Security on Jan. 14, effective Jan. 15, for $22,500 with two optional one-year extensions for a potential total of $67,500. A copy provided by the city shows it was signed by Police Chief Ken Plunkett.

The contract was approved without the need to go to the Escondido City Council because of the relatively low amount, Witholt said. ICE used the facility before this year, but it was unclear how long.

Escondido has operated its 22-acre training facility outside the city on Valley Center Road for more than 60 years. It is made available to other agencies as needed about 200 days out of the year, usually for a fee to cover the cost of operations.

The Carlsbad’s Police Department’s SWAT team, for example, used the facility once for joint training with the Escondido Police Department in 2025 and paid no fees, said Amy Ventetuolo, the city’s communication and engagement director.

Carlsbad does not have a regular schedule or pattern of routine use for the Escondido facility, Ventetuolo said Monday.

Escondido Mayor Dane White has asked the City Council to review the contract with DHS at the council’s meeting on Feb. 25, a city spokesman said. The presentation will be for information only, with no decision expected. White did not respond to emails or a voicemail asking about the issue.

White told a reporter for L.A. Taco that Escondido’s contract with DHS has been in place since at least 2014.

Escondido is one of several San Diego County cities that have seen public demonstrations against ICE tactics in recent weeks as the violence mounts in Minnesota.

“What ICE is doing across this country is fueling fear, unrest and harm – and local governments shouldn’t be helping it happen,” von Wilpert said in her statement. “It’s disturbing to see a local city helping enable ICE’s reckless tactics after what we’ve seen in Minnesota because our communities here could be next.”

In addition to calling for Escondido to cancel the contract, von Wilpert said she is circulating a petition asking city residents to “communicate strong, united opposition” to allowing ICE to do weapons training at a city facility.

San Diego County and many of its cities recently have taken steps in the past year to limit local cooperation with federal immigration enforcement efforts.

Cities have refused to release personal information about residents unless necessary for the investigation of specific crimes. Local police have been asked not to participate in ICE operations other than to provide traffic control or public safety at enforcement events.

Most local agencies routinely cooperated with federal immigration enforcement until the state’s Senate Bill 54 took effect in 2018. The law prohibits police from asking individuals about their immigration status or holding them for immigration authorities except when they have criminal convictions.

It also specifies that schools, hospitals and courthouses are not to assist with federal immigration enforcement efforts, and that local agencies are not to provide federal immigration officers with private information such as phone numbers and home addresses.