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A California law gives local health officials the right to inspect immigration detention centers. San Diego County is suing to enforce it after it was denied access to a facility.
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A federal judge on Wednesday ordered the Otay Mesa Detention Center to allow San Diego County health inspectors access to the 1,400-person facility, siding with local officials over the federal government in an ongoing legal dispute.
The ruling could affect how local officials across the state enforce it new law in California is intended to provide an additional level of oversight for immigration detention centers run by private companies.
San Diego County sued the Department of Homeland Security in March after two county supervisors and the health inspector were denied full access to facilities run by CoreCivic. This Southern California county is the first in the state to attempt to exercise control powers granted by state law in 2024.
Judge James Simmons Jr. of the Southern District of California announced last month that the county will likely win its case over whether it has the authority to conduct public health inspections under state law.
In his order issued Wednesday, Simmons Jr. wrote that the review “must be completed as soon as possible and no later than June 17, 2026.” He also directed CoreCivic to develop a list of policies and procedures required by the county.
“The county is responsible for the safety and health of everyone within its jurisdiction, which includes the detainees at the facility,” county legal counsel Damon Brown said at a news conference after the May hearing.
Otay Mesa is one of eight private detention centers in California. Together, they house about 5,300 people, up from about 3,100 just after President Trump took office in April 2025 and launched a national anti-immigration campaign.
Simmons directed county officials to try to reach an agreement with the Department of Homeland Security, Immigration and Customs Enforcement and CoreCivic on exactly who can participate in the inspection, what areas they can inspect and how to obtain consent for detainees to be interviewed and their medical records reviewed.
During the court hearing, CoreCivic attorney Anne Orcutt said the Tennessee-based private prison company that owns and operates Otay Mesa filed a California Public Records Act request with San Diego County to find out if supervisors routinely attend public health inspections with county officials.
Speaking to Zoom, Orcutt described the county’s request to inspect the facility as unprecedented and discriminatory against the federal government.
San Diego County Supervisor Tera Lawson-Remmer, who was denied access for an inspection in February, said the discussion was a distraction from the problem.
“This is a clear diversionary maneuver,” he said. “The first people to arrive were a health officer and a nurse. They were not allowed access to any of the relevant documents and were evicted from the site. The health inspection was refused with or without our presence.”
At a press conference in March announcing the lawsuit, county supervisors acknowledged that the CalMatters report was key to the facility inspection order. District Supervisor Paloma Aguirre specifically mentions a case where a deaf Mongolian man passed detained for more than four months without access to a Mongolian sign language interpreter, which his lawyer described as total isolation.
CoreCivic spokesman Ryan Gustin said the company’s top priority is “the safety, health and well-being of the people we care about.”
“We fully respect the legal process and remain committed to working with both ICE and San Diego County to find a mutually acceptable resolution to this matter,” he said.
