The San Diego County Board of Supervisors voted 3-2 on Tuesday, Aug. 18, to terminate agreements allowing Immigration and Customs Enforcement and Customs and Border Protection to train at a county-owned firearms facility near the Mexican border.

The sheriff says CBP isn't going anywhere.

The board, which serves as the local government for unincorporated Rancho Santa Fe, directed the county's chief administrative officer to end three lease agreements covering ICE and CBP use of the San Diego Regional Firearms Training Center on Alta Road in Otay Mesa and ICE's use of a firing range at Camp Elliott on Marine Corps Air Station Miramar.

The vote split along party lines. Democratic Supervisors Paloma Aguirre, Terra Lawson-Remer and Monica Montgomery Steppe voted in favor. Republican Supervisors Jim Desmond and Joel Anderson opposed.

"Federal immigration agents have harmed our communities many different ways here locally and throughout the nation," Montgomery Steppe said at the Aug. 18 meeting, according to the Associated Press. "We just don't want to be complicit in that."

Aguirre and Lawson-Remer, who co-authored the proposal, argued the agreements conflict with the county's Civil Liberties Enforcement and Accountability Rules ordinance, which restricts federal law enforcement access to county facilities without a warrant. ICE pays approximately $10,000 per year for the Otay Mesa facility; CBP pays about $117,000, according to the Los Angeles Times. Since 2024, the two agencies have collectively logged roughly 3,350 training hours there.

Neither agreement originally came before the board for a vote because the dollar amounts were small enough for administrative approval. An April 2026 investigative report by iNewsource brought the arrangements to public attention.

Sheriff steps in

Sheriff Kelly Martinez intervened shortly after the vote, announcing she will end ICE's firearms training at county sheriff facilities but will continue allowing CBP to use the Otay Mesa range. She said too many people on both sides of the border would be harmed by cutting CBP's access, according to Fox News.

CBP Commissioner Rodney Scott told the AP the agency relies on the range to train 1,700 officers and warned that sending them elsewhere would reduce local staffing and affect trade and travel at the border. More than 225,000 people cross through San Diego ports of entry daily, including over 90,000 vehicles and 50,000 pedestrians, according to the Sheriff's Department.

The department said in a statement that CBP officers need efficient access to firearms training so they can return quickly to duties at border ports of entry, cruise ship terminals and San Diego International Airport.

How the conflict between the board's vote and the sheriff's decision plays out remains an open question. No source has confirmed whether the county has legal authority to override Martinez, or when the termination takes effect.

Desmond, who voted against the measure, argued the training itself serves public safety, telling the AP that the answer to ICE overreach is more training, not less. A similar debate played out in Escondido in February, where the City Council voted to uphold its contract with ICE for use of that city's firing range.

Aguirre, responding to concerns about border wait times, said the real threat to the local economy is a federal government that pulls CBP officers off port lanes to conduct immigration raids in American neighborhoods.