Escondido council keeps ICE contract amid heated meeting
A five-hour, protest-filled council meeting left Escondido divided as officials refused to cancel a controversial ICE–HSI firing range agreement
ESCONDIDO — A chaotic, nearly five-hour City Council meeting filled with protests, jeers and a brief recess ended Wednesday with council members opting to keep a controversial police contract with federal Homeland Security investigators.
Councilwoman Consuelo Martinez, a Democrat, called Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) a “rogue agency” and moved to terminate the agreement immediately, but the motion died without a second from the Republican majority. The contract, first signed in 2024, allows ICE’s Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) division — not ICE’s Enforcement and Removal Operations (ERO) — to use Escondido’s firing range, though many residents questioned the distinction as more than 80 speakers denounced the agreement.
Escondido Police Chief Ken Plunkett said the original agreement was signed in October 2024 and includes four one-year extensions. He signed the one-year extension in October 2025, and the contract was first reported by L.A. Taco in January. The deal is worth $22,500 annually, or $67,500 through 2029.
The deal allows federal agents access to the Valley Center Road shooting range for 20 days per year with up to 200 special agents to train in groups of 20, according to the contract.
The backlash has been swift and intense as hundreds of people filled the City Council chambers and an overflow room, while dozens of others protested outside, and more than 80 people spoke to the council. Roughly 70 people attended an earlier protest and press conference 90 minutes before the start of the meeting.
“The Escondido Police Department has a long-standing practice of contracting with local, state and federal agencies,” Plunkett said. “We do have a contract for range use with DHS, ICE, specifically for HSI. We do not have a contract for ERO.”
Plunkett said HSI targets criminal elements such as drug and human traffickers, child predators and other violent criminals. He said the agreement is with HSI, not ICE, although many members of the public doubted those claims and said it’s likely ICE agents are training at the facility.
The 250-acre range currently has 20 other local, state and federal rental contracts, he said.
The meeting, meanwhile, was stopped for 12 minutes after consecutive speakers continued to speak against the public comment policy outlined by City Clerk Zack Beck before the meeting. Beck had to rein in and call out the audience many times as they would jeer those in support of the contract.
At one point, Beck said Mayor Dane White could adjourn the meeting if the audience did not adhere to the rules.
Council debate
White said there are hundreds of contracts, if not 1,000, approved by city personnel each year under the city’s municipal code. Only those more than $200,000 require City Council approval, while department heads, such as the chief of police, can approve contracts up to $75,000, per the city code.
