What happens when immigration detention in San Diego reaches max capacity?

Good Morning, I’m Lawrence K. Jackson….it’s Wednesday, July 30th

What happens when immigration detention in San Diego reaches max capacity?

More on that next. But first... the headlines….

TWO CUSTOMS AND BORDER PROTECTION OFFICERS ARE FACING POTENTIAL LIFE SENTENCES AFTER PLEADING GUILTY THIS MONTH TO ALLOWING VEHICLES FILLED WITH ILLEGAL DRUGS TO ENTER THE U-S FROM MEXICO

THE PAIR USED A SECRET EMOJI-BASED CODE SYSTEM TO LET MEXICAN TRAFFICKERS KNOW WHICH INSPECTION LANES THEY WOULD BE MANNING AT THE TECATE AND OTAY (OH-TY) MESA BORDER CROSSINGS

OFFICERS JESSE CLARK GARCIA AND DIEGO BONILLO EACH PLEADED GUILTY TO MULTIPLE CHARGES INCLUDING CONSPIRACY TO IMPORT CONTROLLED SUBSTANCES

THE PAIR RAKED IN SIGNIFICANT PROFITS FUNDING THEIR DOMESTIC AND INTERNATIONAL TRAVEL AS WELL AS PURCHASES OF LUXURY ITEMS. THAT’S ACCORDING TO THE U-S ATTORNEY’S OFFICE FOR THE SAN DIEGO REGION.

AND NOW, SOME SAD NEWS THAT MIGHT ALSO BRING BACK SOME CHILDHOOD NOSTALGIA

THE SAN DIEGO WOMAN WHO COINED THE TERM HULA-HOOP HAS DIED.

JOAN ANDERSON WAS VISITING HER HOME COUNTRY OF AUSTRALIA WHEN SHE NOTICED FRIENDS PLAYING WITH A BAMBOO HOOP

HOOPS OF DIFFERENT KINDS HAVE BEEN USED RECREATIONALLY FOR CENTURIES.

BUT ACCORDING TO THE 2018 DOCUMENTARY “HULA GIRL,” ANDERSON AND HER HUSBAND WENT ON TO PITCH THE HOOP CONCEPT TO THE TOY COMPANY WHAM-O.

WHAM-O ULTIMATELY TOOK CREDIT FOR THE HULA HOOP AS IT BECAME A NATIONAL SENSATION.

ANDERSON PASSED AWAY AT THE AGE OF ONE HUNDRED AND ONE IN HER SAN DIEGO SENIOR HOME.

UC SAN DIEGO HEALTH NOW HAS AN EXPANDED MEDICAL FACILITY AS PART OF ITS HILCREST CAMPUS

THE SIX-FLOOR, TWO HUNDRED AND FIFTY THOUSAND SQUARE FOOT BUILDING IS PART OF THE CONTINUING REDEVELOPMENT OF THE CAMPUS.

THE EXPANSION AIMS TO INCREASE ACCESS TO OUTPATIENT, SURGICAL AND CANCER CARE

FUTURE PHASES WILL INCLUDE WORKFORCE HOUSING, GREEN SPACES AND ADDITIONAL CARE FACILITIES

From KPBS, you’re listening to San Diego News Now.Stay with me for more of the local news you need.

A NEW STUDY SHOWS IMMIGRATION DETENTION CENTERS ACROSS THE COUNTRY ARE OVER CAPACITY - INCLUDING THE OTAY MESA DETENTION CENTER IN SAN DIEGO COUNTY. REPORTER GUSTAVO SOLIS SAYS THE CONDITIONS ARE MAKING DETAINEES SICK AND DERAILING THEIR CASES.

The Otay Mesa Detention Center looks like a prison. Tall barbed wire fences. Guards. Security cameras. All designed to keep people inside.

But it’s technically not a prison. Or a jail. Immigration detention is classified as civil detention. People are either waiting to be deported or for an immigration judge to decide their case. 

“They call it civil detention as a way to differentiate it from incarceration, imprisonment. But I worked as a criminal defense attorney for years. It’s no different.”

Tracy Crowley is a lawyer with Immigrant Defenders Law Center. 

“But it very much is a prison. Same security, same rules, same strip searches after you see your attorney.”

Immigration detention centers are key to President Donald Trump’s mass deportation campaign. And they will only play a bigger role as the recent budget bill allocates billions for new ones.

As Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents struggle to meet arrest quotas of 3,000 people a day, these centers are already filling up.

A report from Syracuse University shows that as of April 84 of the country’s 181 detention centers already exceed their contractual capacity. 

That includes the Otay Mesa Detention Center - which is more than 100 people beyond its capacity - according to the report. 

Valrie Sigamani represents three clients in the detention center. We spoke on a windy day outside the detention center.

“Males are the ones that have a significant amount of overcrowding. There’s around 10 to 13 people inside one room. And there’s only 8 beds in each room.”

The room is designed for 8 people. They share one toilet. There aren’t enough bunk beds for everyone. 

“So they get some sort of matt on the floor. But, from what I’ve heard, because of people sleeping on the floor, the males have been getting a lot more sick. Because they have the air hitting them from below.”

Multiple lawyers told KPBS the poor conditions are endangering the health of their clients.

Here again is Tracy Crowley.

“My client who was recently detained had a rash all over his body the whole time he was there. Made it so he couldn’t sleep… Every time we were meeting and discussing his case, he had to  itch his body and he would ask medical for some sort of cream to help so he could sleep at night and they would bring him this tiny little cup for his entire body.”

She says it’s extremely difficult to advocate for clients. Her phone calls and emails are often ignored.

“It’s infuriating that they’re charged with caring for these people – who have committed no crime – and they’re not providing the basic necessities.”

CoreCivic - the private company that runs Otay Mesa - did not respond to questions from KPBS. ICE issued the following statement denying any claims of overcrowding or subprime conditions. Calling them categorically false. 

San Diego County offers free legal representation to people detained at Otay Mesa. Chief Deputy Public Defender Michael Garcia says the overcrowding chaos is derailing due process.

“The primary problem is confusion. It’s so overcrowded that there’s confusion up and down the system. From things like – someone will be told that they’re going to have their credible fear interview on an asylum case and it never happens.”

This confusion is causing clients to abandon their cases and self-deport. 

“That’s obviously a big problem. When you don’t have a lawyer, when you’re anxious, when you get scared, then you choose to voluntarily depart as opposed to fighting a case that could’ve been viable.”

Garcia believes this is a feature, not a bug in the Trump administration’s plans. 

“A lot of the clients are just choosing to not fight their case anymore. Which is probably by design and exactly what the administration wants.”

Every lawyer who spoke to KPBS talked about the  emotional toll of their work …  feeling guilty about leaving the detention center - knowing their clients are struggling inside. 

Here is Sigamani. 

“We do take it home. I think a lot of attorneys that work here in the detention center, we take that home. We probably cry a few times, understanding that good people are sitting in here and being mistreated and feel like there’s nothing we can do about it. I know there is, I know we can eventually do something. But it’s hard to feel like you as one person can’t do anything about it.”

Still - she plans to keep showing up in Otay Mesa as long as her clients need her.

Gustavo Solis, KPBS News.

SAN DIEGO IS PRESSING AHEAD WITH PLANS TO CONVERT THE SCANDAL-RIDDEN HIGH-RISE AT 101 ASH STREET INTO AFFORDABLE HOUSING. KPBS METRO REPORTER ANDREW BOWEN SAYS THE CITY COUNCIL APPROVED THE DEAL TODAY (TUESDAY).

AB: Developers Kelley Moden and Sydne Garchik plan on converting the 21-story downtown building at 101 Ash into 250 affordable homes, along with retail space and a child care facility. The city owns the building but isn't directly subsidizing the project. Instead it would accept small lease payments over 60 years. Councilmember Kent Lee says the building's scandalous history shouldn't determine its future.

KL: 101 Ash as it exists today does not serve the public's interest and instead is truly just a liability when it comes to the annual costs. And these are public dollars that are being invested in a building that we are not currently utilizing, and without a plan, those dollars go nowhere.

AB: The developer has two years to finance the project, which depends on tax credits for low-income housing and historic preservation. Andrew Bowen, KPBS news.

OUR PUBLIC MATTERS PARTNERSHIP HAS A NEW SERIES CALLED ‘IN WHOSE BACK YARD.’ IT LOOKS AT WHERE HOUSING IS…AND ISN’T…BEING BUI LT. IN THIS STORY, REPORTER JAKE GOTTA FOUND SAN DIEGO ISN’T ALWAYS BUILDING HOMES IN AREAS THAT NEED THEM MOST.

“I’ll tell you, it sucks driving in traffic,“

Ashley Harbeck is a teacher at University City High School. She commutes up and down the 805 every day.

“If I am awesome and I leave at 7 a.m. it’ll take me 20 minutes…If I leave at 730 or 745 though, it could take up to 30 to 45 minutes…” 

She says the evenings are even worse, when it can take an hour to get home

“It affects everything…like, what events I’m going to plan to do after work, if I can like, have time to hang out with people, or like…go catch a happy hour or something, I kind of miss out on some of those things.” The 805 in San Diego is probably the region’s worst freeway for commuters. Traffic backs up for miles every morning headed north, and in the evening, the southbound side is a nightmare. 

“We have a big separation between where the job centers are…and where people live.” 

Colin Parent is CEO of Circulate San Diego. He says too many San Diegans can’t live close to their jobs, and that means sitting in traffic. 

“It’s really painful. You have to spend a lot of time stressed out, in your car. And that means you have less time at home, less time with your family…and that’s just a real drain on people.” 

It also means lots of pollution. 

“You have the environmental pollution of living close to the freeway, nitric oxide and particulates. But then of course, there’s all- from burning fossil fuels, all the carbon.”

That’s Chris Roberts from San Diego 350, a climate advocacy group. He says traffic is still one of the biggest sources of pollution in the region.

“By far the number one source is cars and light duty trucks.” - Chris Roberts 

So, why are so many people driving on the 805? Well,

Sorrento Valley and UTC is the largest job center in San Diego County, with over 169,000 employees.

But there are only about 20,000 homes in this area. 

So while there are some places to live, there aren’t nearly enough for all the workers.  

“Historically, you weren’t even allowed to build housing.”

According to state housing data, only 336 new homes were permitted in this area over six years between 2018 and 2024. 

And over the past sixeight years in San Diego, rents rose much slower in the places where lots of homes were permitted.

The city is making an effort to address the problem, with the new University Community Plan.

It was approved just last year. It updated zoning in the area to allow for more than 30,000 new homes. But not everybody is happy about the change. 

“The roadways are the main thing. We don’t have the capacity for the traffic it’s going to generate.”

Bonnie Kutch lives in University City and started UC Neighbors for Responsible Growth.

“We know we need housing for the city…we’re merely asking for it to be done in a responsible and sensible manner.” 

She says the new homes won’t be affordable, either. 

“Most of it is luxury, mid market or luxury housing, that they’re adding. “So would you describe this house, and these homes in this neighborhood, as affordable housing?”

“Um…I would say that they are…um, mid-market, single family homes.” 

Right now the median home price in this area is nearly a million dollars, and the average rent for a two bedroom is more than $3000.

“It’s insanely expensive…I do have some colleagues that actually live up there and it’s always just kind of a joke that it would be impossible.”

For Harbeck, more housing could mean a chance to live in the community where she teaches. 

“If UTC ever kind of even got like a little area that was a little bit more like a North Park vibe or that style, I would absolutely move. It is not my first choice to drive over an hour home every day.”

Jake Gotta, KPBS news.

TO EXPLORE A MAP OF WHERE HOUSING IS BEING BUILT, GO TO KPBS DOT ORG SLASH WHOSE BACK YARD.

CALIFORNIA ATTORNEY GENERAL ROB BONTA ANNOUNCED ANOTHER LAWSUIT AGAINST THE TRUMP ADMINISTRATION YESTERDAY...THIS TIME, OVER WHAT HE’S CALLING AN EFFORT TO DEFUND PLANNED PARENTHOOD.

PRESIDENT TRUMP’S TAX BILL INSTRUCTED THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT TO STOP ALL MEDICAID REIMBURSEMENTS FOR LARGE NONPROFITS THAT PROVIDE ABORTIONS.

BONTA SAYS THIS LIMITS ACCESS TO OTHER MEDICAL SERVICES.-PICKUP 

The Trump administration and Congress are actually gutting essential lifesaving care like cancer screenings and STI testing, simply because Planned Parenthood has spoken out in support of reproductive rights.

THE FEDERAL HEALTH DEPARTMENT HAS NOT RESPONDED TO REQUESTS FOR COMMENT.

THEY PREVIOUSLY TOLD PBS THAT STATES SHOULD NOT BE FORCED TO FUND ORGANIZATIONS THAT HAVE QUOTE “CHOSEN POLITICAL ADVOCACY OVER PATIENT CARE.”

DOZENS OF SAN DIEGO JUNIOR LIFEGUARDS TOOK THE LEAP OF FAITH OFF THE SCRIP PS PIER IN LA JOLLA YESTERDAY.

THE ANNUAL EVENT DRAWS ATTENTION TO WATER SAFETY AND THE PREVENTION OF DROWNINGS**.

RONAN GRAY, THE PRESIDENT OF THE PREVENT DROWNING FOUNDATION OF SAN DIEGO SAYS THE TRADITION ALSO HELPS THE JUNIOR GUARDS BUILD CONFIDENCE.

It's a daunting jump, even for an adult, it's a daunting job. So they have a phrase conquer your fear, jump the pier.So that's why it's such a big part of the program. And when you get out on the pier there, some kids are hesitant, and the rest of the group will cheer them on. So it really is a rite of passage for this program. And, it's, you know, building skills and character for life as well. So it's it really is an amazing day for these kids.

PART OF THE MISSION OF THE EVENT INCLUDES RAISING MONEY TO HELP FUND SCHOLARSHIPS FOR THE JUNIOR LIFEGUARD PROGRAM AND SWIM LESSONS FOR SAN DIEGO YOUTH.

That’s it for the podcast today. As always you can find more San Diego news online at KPBS dot org. I’m LJ. Thanks for listening and have a great day.