SAN DIEGO (KGTV) — San Diego County has begun the process for a public health inspection of the Otay Mesa Detention Center after U.S. Rep. Juan Vargas was denied access by ICE last week.
Vargas said he received handwritten notes from detainees with concerns about living conditions at the facility. His office received complaints that detainees were being held without fresh food and were constantly getting sick.
The handwritten notes allegedly came in lotion bottles thrown over the fence by people being detained at the facility.
In a post on Facebook, Supervisor Terra Lawson-Remer said the county has now started the process for a public health inspection. The county says it has clear authority to do this under California Health and Safety Code, which allows counties to inspect any detention facilities within their borders, including facilities run by private contractors on behalf of federal agencies.
The inspection still has to be coordinated, but Lawson-Remer says the county aims to "document the reality inside."
Last week, Vargas was denied an oversight visit at the Otay Mesa Detention Center. A decision the warden told him came from ICE. But Vargas says he has every right to oversee conditions inside.
"I don't know if the conditions that they're holding people in there are standard or substandard. I don't know that," Vargas said.
ICE didn't respond to requests for comment after Vargas' attempt to visit, but CoreCivic, which runs the facility, sent a lengthy statement. It says the safety, health, and well-being of the individuals in their care is their top priority and that claims of any food quality issues at the facility are false.
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