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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-bed facility, siding with local officials over the federal government in an ongoing legal feud.
The ruling could affect how local officials across the state implement a new California law aimed at providing an additional layer of oversight for privately-run immigration detention facilities.
San Diego County sued the Department of Homeland Security in March after two county supervisors and the health inspector were not given full access to the CoreCivic-run facility. The Southern California county is the first in the state to try to exercise the inspection authority, granted by state law in 2024.
Judge James Simmons Jr. of the Southern District of California said last month that the county was likely to succeed in its lawsuit over whether it has the authority to conduct public health inspections under the state law.
In his order issued Wednesday, Simmons Jr. wrote the inspection “shall be completed as soon as practicable and no later than June 17, 2026.” He also ordered CoreCivic to produce a list of policies and procedures requested by the county.
“The county is responsible for the safety and the health of anyone who is within this jurisdiction, which includes those detained in the facility,” County Counsel Damon Brown said at a press conference after the hearing in May.
Otay Mesa is one of eight privately run detention centers in California. They are collectively holding about 5,300 people, up from about 3,100 just after President Trump took office in April 2025 and commenced a nationwide immigration crackdown.
Simmons ordered county officials to try to reach an agreement with the Department of Homeland Security, Immigration and Customs Enforcement, and CoreCivic on who exactly can participate in the inspection, which areas they can inspect, and how to obtain consent from detainees to be interviewed and to have their medical records reviewed.
At the court hearing, CoreCivic attorney Anne Orcutt said the Tennessee-based private prison company, which owns and operates Otay Mesa, has filed a California Public Records Act request with the County of San Diego to find out if supervisors typically attend public health inspections with the county officials.
Appearing by Zoom, Orcutt described the county’s request to inspect the facility as unprecedented and discriminatory against the federal government.
San Diego County Supervisor Terra Lawson-Remer, who was denied access to the inspection in February, said the argument was a distraction from the issue.
“That is the epitome of a red herring,” she said. “The first people who arrived were a public health officer and a nurse. They were not allowed access to any of the relevant documents and were kicked out of the facility. The public health inspection was denied with or without our presence.”
At a news conference in March announcing the lawsuit, county supervisors credited CalMatters reporting with why they wanted to inspect the facility in the first place. County Supervisor Paloma Aguirre specifically mentioned a situation where a deaf Mongolian man spent more than four months detained without access to a Mongolian Sign Language interpreter, which his attorney described as being like solitary confinement.
CoreCivic spokesman Ryan Gustin said the company’s top priority is “the safety, health and well-being of the individuals entrusted to our care.”
“We fully respect the judicial process and remain committed to working with both ICE and San Diego County to find a mutually agreed-upon resolution to this matter,” he said.
