What better way to honor those who sacrificed themselves for American freedom than to highlight the ways America is losing that freedom.
These are articles about ICE conducting itself in San Diego County over the recent months — its ICE capades.
The casual cruelty of ICE detentions hits home in San Diego
by Chris Jennewein / Times of San Diego / May 23, 2026,
The casual cruelty of Immigration and Customs Enforcement hit home in our neighborhood on Friday. Nicolas, a landscaper who has worked in our neighborhood for over 35 years, didn’t show up. It was the first time. It turns out he was detained by ICE on Monday and is being held at the notorious Otay Mesa Detention Center. His cellphone was taken away. His wife and three U.S.-citizen children, who live in Carlsbad and Escondido, are scared and unsure what to do.
We gave them money for a lawyer, and I reached out to Rep. Mike Levin‘s office, which quickly provided helpful advice. Jewish Family Service of San Diego also stepped up to help. But the initial damage is done. Nicolas’ family must deal with a major crisis, and his successful business could falter in the interim. We were one of his first customers, and I sent a letter of recommendation for his citizenship application nearly 20 years ago. I believe the application is still pending. Unfortunately, our Citizenship and Immigration Services agency is no model of speed and efficiency.
How is Nicolas’ detention an example of ICE prioritizing criminals? How is a hard-working, dependable landscaper with dozens of long-time customers in San Diego and Del Mar a threat to society? For the balance, go here.
SEE THIS: Here is link to brand new State of California Department of Justice report on “Immigrant Detention in California: A Review of Conditions of Confinement” …
For Context …
Immigration Enforcement Is Slowly Suffocating San Diego’s Border Region
by Jim Hinch / Voice of San Diego / April 28, 2026
Most days, the immigration crackdown tightening its grip on San Diego’s border region is all but invisible. Then, suddenly, it’s not. Late last month, according to one eyewitness, five Ford Explorers with tinted windows screeched to a halt on a side street near Chula Vista’s Third Avenue business district. Immigration enforcement agents wearing masks and tactical gear leaped from the SUVs and began chasing a group of men on the sidewalk. The men, looking for work in Chula Vista after attending an asylum hearing in downtown San Diego, scattered.
Authorities caught two of the men, according to a local activist who monitors Immigration and Customs Enforcement activity and witnessed the event. One escaped by jumping into a nearby backyard. “He was shaken up,” said the activist, who gave his name only as Aldo B. for fear of reprisal by authorities. “It’s the most powerful weapon in their toolkit: Fear. The fear they instill in the community. It’s an environment of uncertainty and instability.”
It has been a little more than a year since President Donald Trump launched a nationwide crackdown on America’s roughly 14 million unauthorized immigrants. From the moment the highly publicized enforcement operation began, residents of South San Diego County, one of America’s most densely populated immigrant regions, feared the worst. What unfolded since then has not been what anyone expected. But it has shaken the proudly international region.
For the balance, go here.
ICE quietly opens another detention center in a former California prison
by Wendy Fry / Cal-Matters / April 23, 2026
Immigration and Customs Enforcement again has expanded in California’s Central Valley, activating a new 700-bed detention facility operated by the for-profit prison company GEO Group. Advocates say the agency began transferring immigrant detainees to the McFarland facility last week. The facility, called Central Valley Annex, brings the total number of active detention centers in California to eight, up from six at the beginning of 2025. They are all operated by private companies and they have a total capacity of nearly 10,000 beds.
Both of the detention centers that opened since President Donald Trump took office had been used as private prisons until California’s incarcerated population fell to a level that allowed the Newsom administration to end those contracts.
The latest figures show an average of about 5,337 people are being held in California immigration detention facilities, according to DetentionReports.com. That number is up 72% from the average daily population of about 3,104 individuals being held in California in April 2025. For the balance, go here.
More than 16,000 people removed from San Diego region by ICE since January 2025
Of the more than 16,000 removals by ICE in the first quarter of the year, 10,847 were Mexican nationals, 996 from Guatemala and 544 from Venezuela, with smaller figures from 116 other countries.
By City News Service and 7SanDiego / May 6–8, 2026
A total of 16,368 people were apprehended by Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents in San Diego County between Jan. 20, 2025, and April 1, 2026, the agency revealed Wednesday, May 6. The data came in a letter response to Rep. Mike Levin, D-San Juan Capistrano, who expressed concerns about ICE’s tactics during operations in Oceanside and requested information about the warrants involved and the detainees’ criminal records. …
President Donald Trump had previously pledged to go after the “worst of the worst” immigrants in the country illegally, but many of those being arrested, put in ICE camps and deported have committed a civil misdemeanor and no other offenses, The Guardian reported in February.
“I suspect these high numbers are part of [White House Deputy Chief of Staff for Policy] Stephen Miller’s demands to meet high detention quotas. What this letter does not answer is how many detainees and removals had a criminal record. That is a question that deserves an answer,” Levin said. “I expect ICE to keep even more data than this, and they need to be able to provide information on where they are detaining individuals and why. This type of oversight — requiring ICE to do public reporting — is something I will continue to advocate for. This letter paints only half the picture, not a full one.”
Of the more than 16,000 removals by ICE in the first quarter of the year, 10,847 were Mexican nationals, 996 from Guatemala and 544 from Venezuela with smaller figures from 116 other countries.
“I appreciate ICE’s response, and it is largely consistent with what we believed to be occurring in San Diego. However, the numbers in this letter are quite troubling,” said Rep. Scott Peters, D-San Diego. “When President Trump took office, he promised the American people that his immigration agenda would target the `worst of the worst,’ yet this letter raises serious questions: Are the 16,000 individuals who were removed from San Diego the `worst of the worst?’ Do they have criminal records, or are these removals simply part of a broader effort to hit an arbitrary quota by this administration? Our constituents deserve to know who is being removed from their communities and why.”
The American Immigration Council reported in April that two out of every three “at-large” arrests during the winter were of “people with no criminal record and just 17% had any prior criminal conviction. And out of that group, just one-third were classified as the most serious offenders by ICE.”
“Overcrowding, inadequate food, excessive use of force”
The inhumane conditions in California ICE detention centers extend far beyond inadequate medical care. During the investigation, the Cal DOJ found that ICE detainees in seven facilities dealt with “overcrowding, inadequate food, excessive use of force by detention facility guards, and inadequate clothing.”
According to the Cal DOJ, one of the primary complaints shared by detainees across all seven detention centers was about the availability and quality of food. At most of the facilities, detainees reported frequently being given food that was undercooked, frozen, expired, and rotting. Detainees described their meals as “dog food” and in many cases reported having very limited access to servings of fruit and protein. The Cal DOJ also found that access to clean drinking water has been an issue for detainees. Detainees at various facilities describe the water as murky and metallic-tasting. In some cases, the water appeared to cause illness in detainees, including sore throats and diarrhea.
Overcrowding has been another major issue. One California facility, Otay Mesa, is among the most overcrowded detention centers in the country, with about 25% more detainees than it has capacity for. The report found that housing units in the facility had 20 to 30 more detainees than they were designed for, in some cases leading elderly detainees to sleep on cots on the floor. The crowding overwhelmed the facility’s cleaning schedule, leaving bathrooms and showers covered in mold, feces, and trash.
The Cal DOJ also found that at Otay Mesa, detainees were strip searched after every non-legal contact visit. This practice “has an overwhelming impact on the mental health and dignity of detainees,” the report states. “Female detainees described having to fully undress in front of officers, in some cases including male officers, even when menstruating. Both male and female detainees described feeling ‘violated’ and the experience as ‘humiliating’ and ‘denigrating.’”
Excerpt – by Rebecca Crosby and Noel Sims at Popular Information, May 19, 2026
California DOJ report highlights overcrowding, food issues at Otay Mesa Detention Center
CBS8 /May 15, 2026
A new state report has revealed conditions at California’s immigration detention facilities, including at the Otay Mesa Detention Center in San Diego County.
The California Department of Justice inspected seven immigration detention facilities across the state last year, documenting concerns related to overcrowding and detainee reports about food conditions. The Department of Justice conducted a two-day site visit at the Otay Mesa facility in October 2025, finding it held 1,433 detainees about 21 percent more than during a previous DOJ visit in 2023.
According to the report, detainees reported overcrowded housing units, inadequate food portions and quality, and concerns about access to water. The report also found that Otay Mesa is the only facility in California with a policy of strip-searching detainees after non-legal contact visits. Detainees say the practice negatively impacts their mental health and dignity.
“This report simply confirms what we’ve been hearing since last year,” said Ian Seruelo, an immigration attorney and chair of the San Diego Immigrant Rights Consortium. “What really stood out to me when I was reading it were, first, the basic needs like food and water, then healthcare, and third, the strip-searching.”
CoreCivic, which operates the Otay Mesa Detention Center, said it has not been provided a copy of the report and has not reviewed it, and said it will respond more fully once it has the opportunity to review it in its entirety. For balance of the article, go here.
just ice