By Andrea Lopez-Villafaña
U.S. Sen. Kamala Harris toured the Otay Mesa Detention Center on Friday, June 22. She said her heart was broken after speaking with three mothers detained in the facility. Mario A. Cortez/La Prensa San Diego
To kick off a weekend of nationwide demonstrations against the Trump administration’s “zero tolerance” policy, U.S. Sen. Kamala Harris joined immigrant rights supporters to rally against family separation on Friday.
Harris toured the Otay Mesa Detention Center, while several dozen supporters poured off the sidewalk onto the street and denounced the treatment of immigrant families.
The center is the only immigration detention facility in the county and is owned by the private prison company CoreCivic, which contracts to hold individuals in the custody of Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
Over 33,000 undocumented immigrants remain in the custody of the US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) after 72 detainees have tested positive for the COVID-19 virus, including one at the Otay Mesa Detention Center in South San Diego.
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A November inspection of Otay Mesa Detention Center, conducted virtually because of the pandemic, found eight deficiencies under detention standards that the contracted private facility is required to follow, according to records released this week by Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
The deficiencies were in the areas of medical care, admission and release, staff-detainee communication and telephone access. The report, written by ICE’s Office of Detention Oversight, notes that not all standards could be evaluated because inspectors couldn’t physically enter the facility.
ICE, the federal agency responsible for immigration detention did not respond to a request for comment on the inspection’s findings Tuesday.