ESCONDIDO, Calif. (AP) — Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers training at a local gun range largely went unnoticed by residents of one Southern California city for more than a decade, until President Donald Trump’s immigration crackdown and the recent fatal shootings of U.S. citizens by federal agents.
The arrangement in Escondido, a city of about 150,000 people north of San Diego surrounded by farms and horse ranches, has sparked weeks of demonstrations. Residents have been demanding that the city stop allowing ICE agents to train at the local police department range, reflecting growing discontent across the country with the administration's immigration actions.
The debate reached a feverish pitch during a nearly five-hour discussion Wednesday as residents carrying signs reading “ICE Out” packed a City Council meeting and filled an overflow room while pleading for officials to end the contract that lets the agency train at the range. One council member wanted to end the deal, but four others opted to keep it to ensure federal agents who investigate human and drug trafficking are well-trained and to avoid a backlash.
“I believe that if the contract is canceled, I do believe that all these bad things that have happened are going to happen in Escondido,” Council member Joe Garcia told the crowd.
A majority of Americans in recent polls have said Trump has “gone too far” in sending federal immigration agents into American cities. Beyond the mass street demonstrations in Minneapolis, people in communities from New York to California are objecting to longstanding contracts between ICE and local governments for services ranging from the use of training facilities to parking spaces. The agency has also angered communities caught off guard by ICE's plans to occupy giant warehouses, some that could house as many as 10,000 immigration detainees.
Amid the debate, funding for the Department of Homeland Security has been put on hold. Democrats are saying they will not help approve more money until new limits are placed on federal immigration operations following the fatal shootings of U.S. citizens Alex Pretti and Renee Good last month in Minneapolis.
Immigration and policing
Unlike many California cities, Escondido had an especially close alliance with ICE in the past that allowed immigration officers to work at police headquarters and coordinate on vehicle stops. That partnership ended after California passed a law in 2017 limiting such collaboration with immigration officials.
Protesters in Escondido said they were unaware of the contract allowing ICE to train at the gun range in the city's hillsides until advocates found the agreement online. They said they fear word of the deal will make immigrants afraid to report crimes to local police, weakening public safety in a city where Latinos make up about half the population.
Some say they don’t want to give ICE agents a reason to come to their community or lend support to an agency they don't trust will follow U.S. laws. The concern is high, both among immigrants and U.S. citizens who worry about masked federal immigration agents ′ use of deadly force.
“Tonight isn't about bullets and targets. It's about boundaries,” Angela Spucces, an Escondido resident, said during the meeting. “If we value local control and community trust, we should draw the line now.”
Escondido provides the space under a deal signed by ICE in 2024 and renewed this year, though ICE has been training at the outdoor range off a winding road outside Escondido’s downtown for more than a decade, said Police Chief Ken Plunkett. More than 600 officers from 20 agencies train there, including those from the San Diego branch of ICE’s Homeland Security Investigations, which investigates crimes including human trafficking and drug smuggling, he said.
“Members of Escondido Police Department do not provide training to outside law enforcement agencies that contract to rent the facility,” he told the City Council. The city will receive $22,500 a year for up to three years under the deal, he said.
The Department of Homeland Security, which oversees ICE, did not comment on the backlash and would not confirm locations where its officers train, citing security concerns.
Several of those locations have been brought to light as communities demand an end to such agreements.
Debates in other communities
In Cottage Grove, Minnesota, 20 miles (32 kilometers) southeast of Minneapolis, Ruth Jones and other residents have been asking the community to end its contract allowing ICE to use its regional training center. But Mayor Myron Bailey said the center was built with state bond funding and is rented out to some 60 law enforcement agencies and other groups, including ICE.
“Contractually we cannot discriminate against any public agency,” Bailey said in a statement.
In Islip, New York, community members urged local officials last year to rescind a longstanding contract to use a rifle range for training, but the local government also kept the deal.
Hartford, Connecticut, has moved to end a contract for ICE employees to use a city-owned parking lot.
Not everyone in Escondido is opposed to the city's contract with ICE. During the meeting, Barry Speer said he doesn't see why residents so critical of ICE agents' training would want to make it harder for them to get prepared.
“The push to remedy that is to prevent them from training — it doesn’t make any sense to me,” he said.
But scores of residents of Escondido and nearby communities said ICE had access to other training locations and they didn't want to give agents any reason to come to the region.
“By inviting ICE into our community, you are putting us at risk,” Escondido resident Richard Cannon said.