The San Diego County Board of Supervisors voted on Tuesday to end an agreement that allowed federal immigration authorities to train at local firing ranges. The decision stops U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) from using county-operated facilities for tactical exercises.
The move comes amid local concerns regarding federal immigration enforcement policies under the Trump administration. The board members who supported the measure stated that the county should not facilitate the activities of agencies involved in large-scale deportation efforts or policies they characterized as disruptive to the local community.
Opponents of the vote argued that the decision could negatively impact public safety by reducing the training opportunities available to federal officers operating in the region. They noted that federal agents often work alongside local law enforcement and that shared training facilities help maintain high standards of readiness and cooperation.
For local residents and federal workers, the concrete day-to-day change will be the absence of federal personnel at county law enforcement training centers. The source does not report a specific dollar amount for lost revenue to the county or the added travel costs for federal agencies, but it indicates that federal agents will no longer be visible at these specific local sites. This shift reflects a broader trend of local governments in California using administrative levers to distance themselves from federal immigration enforcement priorities.
The knock-on effects could include a strain on inter-agency relationships between the San Diego County Sheriff's Department and federal border authorities. It also sets a precedent for other Southern California municipalities considering similar restrictions on the use of public infrastructure by federal agencies. What happens next depends on how quickly ICE and CBP can establish alternative training venues; the source did not provide a specific date for when the access will officially terminate, though the vote on Tuesday makes the policy change immediate.