For more than ten years, federal immigration officers quietly used a California city’s shooting range for training exercises without drawing much attention from local residents. That changed following President Trump’s intensified immigration enforcement efforts and deadly incidents involving federal agents shooting U.S. citizens.
The training agreement in Escondido, a community of roughly 150,000 located north of San Diego amid agricultural land and horse properties, has now become the center of ongoing protests. Community members are calling on city leaders to terminate the contract allowing Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents access to the police department’s shooting facility, part of a broader nationwide pushback against the administration’s immigration policies.
“We don’t want ICE anywhere near Escondido or fraternizing with the police,” said Richard Garner, 71, while rallying against the deal outside the city’s police station.
Recent polling shows most Americans believe Trump has overstepped by deploying federal immigration officers in U.S. cities. Beyond large-scale protests in Minneapolis, residents from New York to California are challenging existing agreements between ICE and municipal governments covering everything from training facility access to parking arrangements. Communities have also expressed anger over ICE’s plans to establish massive detention warehouses, some designed to hold up to 10,000 immigration detainees.
Congressional Democrats have blocked Department of Homeland Security funding during this controversy, stating they won’t approve additional resources without new restrictions on federal immigration activities following last month’s fatal shootings of U.S. citizens Alex Pretti and Renee Good in Minneapolis.
Escondido’s City Council plans to address the ICE contract during Wednesday’s meeting.
Escondido previously maintained unusually strong ties with ICE compared to other California municipalities, permitting immigration officers to operate from police headquarters and collaborate on traffic enforcement. This cooperation ceased after California enacted 2017 legislation restricting such partnerships with federal immigration authorities.
Local activists say they discovered the shooting range contract online and were previously unaware of the arrangement at the facility located in the city’s hills. They worry the agreement will discourage immigrants from reporting crimes to local law enforcement, potentially compromising public safety in a community where Latino residents comprise approximately half the population.
Residents express concern about providing ICE agents any justification to visit their area or supporting an agency they believe may not adhere to federal law. These fears affect both immigrants and citizens worried about masked federal immigration officers’ use of lethal force.
Police Captain Erik Witholt explained that Escondido provides the facility through a contract ICE signed in 2024 and renewed this year, although the agency has conducted training at the outdoor range along a curved road outside downtown for over a decade.
The three-year agreement with ICE’s San Diego Homeland Security Investigations unit, which handles cases involving human trafficking and drug smuggling, will pay the city $22,500 annually.
“We don’t train with them. We don’t train them,” Witholt said, noting that 22 different agencies utilize the facility, each bringing their own range supervisors, targets, and ammunition.
The Department of Homeland Security, ICE’s parent agency, declined to address the criticism and wouldn’t verify training locations due to security considerations.
However, several training sites have been revealed as communities seek to terminate such contracts.
In Cottage Grove, Minnesota, located 20 miles southeast of Minneapolis, Ruth Jones and fellow residents have petitioned their community to cancel its agreement allowing ICE access to the regional training center. Mayor Myron Bailey responded that the facility was constructed using state bond money and serves approximately 60 law enforcement agencies and other organizations, including ICE.
“Contractually we cannot discriminate against any public agency,” Bailey said in a statement.
Islip, New York residents urged local officials last year to cancel a long-term contract for rifle range training access, but municipal leaders maintained the agreement.
Hartford, Connecticut has taken steps to terminate a contract allowing ICE personnel to use a city-owned parking facility.
Not all Escondido residents oppose the city’s ICE agreement. Luke Beckwith, 26, believes police should determine facility access.
“I personally don’t care,” Beckwith said. “It’s bringing revenue to the city.”
Edgar, a Mexican immigrant who requested his surname be withheld due to deportation concerns, said preventing ICE from using the city’s shooting range won’t eliminate the danger for immigrants like himself.
“If they want to come, they will come,” he said.
