SAN DIEGO (Border Report) — Federal immigration officials have blocked San Diego County health inspectors from accessing key areas of the Otay Mesa Detention Center after previously agreeing to a planned inspection.
According to a news release issued Friday afternoon, the County of San Diego’s public health officer was allowed into the facility to begin what would have been the first comprehensive public health inspection of a federal immigration detention center in California only to have ICE stop the process at the last minute.
ICE denied access “to routine and critical components of the inspection — including review of medical records and confidential interviews with detainees — steps required to complete a lawful public health evaluation.”
County of San Diego to inspect private ICE detention facility
County supervisors, who had been cleared to enter the facility, were also blocked from entering the site, which is operated by CoreCivic, a private company hired by ICE to house about 1,400 migrants on site…