\t\t\t\t\tWhy this matters:<\/p>\n
A federal judge’s ruling could clear the way for the first full inspection of an immigration detention facility by a California county under a 2024 state law. That could lead to others statewide.<\/p>\n
A federal judge indicated Wednesday he would order officials in charge of Otay Mesa Detention Center to give San Diego County inspectors access to the facility where over 1,000 people are typically detained on any given day \u2014 but first the two sides who have been in a standoff for months<\/a> need to work out the details of who will be let in and what exactly they can inspect.\u00a0<\/p>\n The county Board of Supervisors sued the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, the heads of both organizations and CoreCivic, the for-profit company that runs the Otay Mesa Detention Center, to be allowed to inspect the facility, which is receiving more attention amid a national crackdown on illegal immigration.\u00a0<\/p>\n U.S. District Judge James Simmons Jr. said the county likely has the authority to enforce a state health inspection over the federal government\u2019s objections. He also found that it was in the public interest to allow one, and that irreparable harm could occur should the county not be able to conduct the inspection.\u00a0<\/p>\n While Simmons rejected the federal government\u2019s central legal arguments against granting access to the facility, the judge stopped short of issuing a final order at a hearing on the county\u2019s motion for a preliminary injunction. Instead, he ordered the parties to spend three weeks negotiating the inspection\u2019s scope and to submit a supplemental briefing by May 27.<\/p>\n \u201cThe county is responsible for the safety and the health of anyone who is within this jurisdiction, which include those detained in the facility,\u201d County Counsel Damon Brown said at a press conference after the hearing. \u201cIf there are health hazards that remain in the facility, not only is that a danger to those who are in the facility, it\u2019s a danger to those who work in the facility, who visit the facility, and poses a potential threat to the larger public, the 3.3 million residents in the city, should any of those diseases or conditions manifest outside of the walls of the detention facility.\u201d<\/p>\n County Supervisors Terra Lawson-Remer and Paloma Aguirre were turned away from inspecting<\/a> the detention center although the county health inspector was briefly given access to medical bays and the kitchen in February.\u00a0<\/p>\n For a time, earlier attempts by federal elected officials<\/a> to tour the facility were also being blocked, but members of San Diego\u2019s congressional delegation were able to get inside in April. They were unable to speak with detainees<\/a> or review medical records, however.\u00a0<\/p>\n