San Diego County’s Otay Mesa Detention Center is among many immigration detention facilities nationwide beset by overcrowding – from detainees sleeping on the floor to deferred medical care resulting in hospitalizations, according to research and reports from immigration lawyers.
“A system that was very inconsistent to begin with is now complete chaos,” said Michael Garcia, San Diego County’s chief deputy public defender.
Garcia oversees the county’s immigrant defense program, through which more than 50 attorneys provide free legal representation to women and men detained at Otay Mesa…