Escondido’s had a contract with ICE for more than a decade. Now critics want the city to end it

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Federal agents have filed into an Escondido Police Department firing range for more than a decade, with groups of 20 training there for 20 days a year since 2014 under a contract with the Department of Homeland Security that’s been renewed repeatedly without much scrutiny.

Amid mounting community concerns, Escondido Police Chief Ken Plunkett will brief the City Council on the newest arrangement at its regularly scheduled meeting on Wednesday.

Plunkett signed a contract in January that allows the federal agency to use the firing range in northeastern Escondido. The contract, which was reported by L.A. TACO on Jan. 22, did not require City Council approval. Since learning of the contract, some councilmembers and community members have expressed outrage at the federal department’s presence in the city. Mayor Dane White requested that details about the contract be discussed on Wednesday.

California law limits the cooperation among local governments and federal agencies like Immigration and Customs Enforcement and Border Patrol, which fall under DHS. Such ties have become increasingly contentious amid the Trump administration’s immigration enforcement campaign. Two U.S. citizens were killed by federal agents while protesting enforcement activities in Minneapolis last month.

Escondido Councilmember Consuelo Martinez said she learned about the Escondido Police Department’s contract with DHS in January from a resident who showed it to her on a federal website that tracks contracts. In the weeks since it has become public, she said she has heard every day from residents, the majority of whom want the city to terminate the contract.

She said ending the contract could help maintain trust among community members and city officials, who have sometimes been at odds over immigration issues. In 2018, the Escondido City Council supported President Donald Trump’s lawsuit against California’s sanctuary city law. 

“I really feel like this would be a step back if we’re not able to terminate the contract,” Martinez said. “We have to put the residents of Escondido first and not be afraid of any kind of federal pushback.” 

The contract allows 200 special agents to come in groups of 20 on 20 days to use the firing range at 25855 Valley Center Road. It went into effect in January 2026 and expires in January 2027, with two one-year options to renew. The city would receive $22,500 each year. City leaders said versions of the contract have been in place since 2014 with renewals.

DHS Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin did not answer questions from inewsource about its contract with Escondido.  

“ICE will not confirm locations where [our] officers are training and put their lives at risk,” she said in an emailed statement, citing an increase in death threats and assaults against agents.

Calls to cancel the contract 

Before Wednesday’s 5 p.m. City Council meeting, a group will hold a press conference outside City Hall calling on the city to cancel the contract. The group, which includes Vista City Councilmember Corinna Contreras and local activists, will also oppose the contract during public comment. 

It will be the latest in a series of protests this month.

On Monday, a letter signed by 33 local leaders, including state Assemblymember David Alvarez, three members of the San Diego County Board of Supervisors, 10 City Council members – from Carlsbad, Chula Vista, Oceanside, San Diego, San Juan Capistrano and Vista – and 19 education officials, also called on the Escondido City Council to cancel the contract. 

“We cannot control what activities ICE agents may engage in as they utilize and commute to Escondido’s firing range,” the letter reads. “This makes all of your constituents less safe and erodes the public trust that you as elected officials have a responsibility to uphold.”

There is also an online petition with over 2,500 signatures that calls on the city to cancel the current contract if possible, and to decline to renew it in the future. 

The petition said, “At a time when DHS and its components, particularly Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), have expanded cooperation and joint operations, continuing to provide local police training resources to federal agencies raises serious concerns about public trust, accountability, and the appropriate use of city facilities.”

It is unclear what will happen at or after Wednesday’s City Council meeting beyond the briefing. Escondido’s agenda said only that it will receive an informational report from Plunkett about the contract. Martinez wants the council to direct the police to terminate the contract.

Escondido Police Lt. Ryan Hicks said that in the past, the police department has gone to the City Council for issues they need funding for, but not typically for requests to receive outside money. 

“Certainly the city manager and city council can always change the rules,” Hicks said.

Hicks said he knew nothing about the contract until recently and that it was not uncommon for firing ranges to have contracts with other government entities due to the costs of maintaining one. He could not say which other groups have contracts to use the range of Escondido police. 

Hicks said that he had never seen agents at the range, and reaffirmed that the police do not work with the federal agents as it would violate California’s Senate Bill 54, the so-called “sanctuary law” that restricts local law enforcement from assisting federal immigration agents.

“They don’t have like a secret office in our building,” Hicks said. 

Immigration concerns locally 

The Escondido City Council is the latest in the county to hold a public hearing to discuss the Trump administration’s immigration crackdown locally as federal agents have ramped up immigration enforcement further and further from the border, from Los Angeles to Minneapolis.

Earlier this month, Carlsbad Police Chief Christie Calderwood gave a presentation on federal activity in that city at a crowded Carlsbad City Council meeting. 

The City Council had requested the report a couple months earlier, after someone recorded a video at a public library showing federal agents using the library’s parking lot as a staging area. The report came after community members had called on city leaders to protect residents during the federal immigration crackdown. 

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