Escondido residents have spent weeks turning out to demand changes to a long-running arrangement that allows U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers to train at a local police gun range, a controversy that intensified as federal immigration enforcement drew broader criticism and after fatal shootings of U.S. citizens involving federal agents. The demonstrations, which grew from largely unnoticed training activity, culminated in a nearly five-hour City Council discussion Wednesday where residents filled the meeting and an overflow room.
City officials and residents focused on a contract that, according to protesters, permitted ICE to use the range for training off a winding road outside Escondido’s downtown. Residents said they were unaware of the agreement until advocates found it online, and they argued that ending the contract would protect community trust and local public safety.
During the meeting, sign-waving demonstrators pressed council members to end the deal “ICE Out.” The council debate reached a peak as speakers described concerns that ICE presence could make residents—particularly immigrants—less willing to report crimes to local police. Opponents also argued that ICE agents should not be supported by local facilities, including in the form of training access.
Council member Joe Garcia addressed the crowd and said he believed that if the contract were canceled, “all these bad things that have happened are going to happen in Escondido.” Another resident, Angela Spucces, said, “Tonight isn’t about bullets and targets. It’s about boundaries,” adding that residents should draw the line if they valued local control and community trust.
Escondido officials, including Police Chief Ken Plunkett, defended the arrangement by laying out how the training space is used and what the city receives. Plunkett said the city provides the range under a deal signed by ICE in 2024 and renewed this year, and he said ICE has been training at the outdoor range for more than a decade. He also said more than 600 officers from 20 agencies train there, including officers from the San Diego branch of ICE’s Homeland Security Investigations, which investigates crimes including human trafficking and drug smuggling.
Plunkett told the City Council that “Members of Escondido Police Department do not provide training to outside law enforcement agencies that contract to rent the facility,” and he said the city would receive $22,500 a year for up to three years under the deal. The Department of Homeland Security, which oversees ICE, did not comment on the backlash and declined to confirm training locations, citing security concerns.
Even with the protests, not everyone in Escondido supported ending the contract. Resident Barry Speer said the idea of remedying the situation by preventing ICE from training “doesn’t make any sense,” arguing that residents critical of ICE training would want agents prepared instead. However, multiple speakers said they believed ICE had access to other training locations and that they did not want to give ICE reason to come to the region, with Richard Cannon saying, “By inviting ICE into our community, you are putting us at risk.”
The conflict in Escondido reflects a broader pattern of local disputes over ICE agreements that can include not only training facilities but also other kinds of city support. In Cottage Grove, Minnesota, residents asked that the community end an ICE-use contract for a regional training center; Mayor Myron Bailey said the center was built with state bond funding and is rented out to dozens of law enforcement agencies and other groups, including ICE, and he said city leaders cannot “discriminate against any public agency.”
Elsewhere, in Islip, New York, community members urged officials last year to rescind a contract to use a rifle range for training but the local government kept the deal, and Hartford, Connecticut, moved to end a contract for ICE employees to use a city-owned parking lot. The pressure on contracts also comes amid legislative uncertainty: Democrats have said they will not help approve more Department of Homeland Security funding until new limits are placed on federal immigration operations following fatal shootings of U.S. citizens Alex Pretti and Renee Good last month in Minneapolis.