According to a contract provided by Escondido Mayor Dane White and reviewed by L.A. TACO, the City of Escondido accepted a $67,500 contract from the Department of Homeland Security for use of a local firing range.
The contract was signed by Escondido’s Chief of Police, Ken Plunkett, according to the document, with the contractor listed as the City of Escondido.
The Escondido Police Department operates a firing range located at 25855 Valley Center Road, Escondido, CA 92027. This location was confirmed by Mayor White and Lieutenant Hicks as the location of the firing range that will be leased.
“This contract was approved administratively by the Escondido Police Department and has been in place since at least 2014,” Mayor White said in a statement to L.A. TACO. “It was not voted on by the Escondido City Council. While the Escondido Police Department routinely trains with law enforcement partners at the local, state, and federal levels, the department remains fully compliant with SB 54 and does not participate in or cooperate with immigration enforcement.”
The current contract was signed on January 14, 2026, according to the contract we reviewed, and goes through at least January 14, 2027. It could be extended until January 14, 2029, according to usaspending.gov.
It is unclear if the contract has been renewed since 2014, or if the contracts have occurred intermittently. L.A. TACO has filed a public records request and contacted the city for more information.
The contract was issued by an ICE office in Texas for Homeland Security Investigations Special Agent in Charge (HSI-SAC) San Diego, according to a statement of work posted to sam.gov.
The firing range will be used for 20 days annually to train 200 special agents in groups of 20. The agency required a location within 40 miles of the San Diego ICE field office, and a facility that would accommodate training for various firearms, plus a classroom, and “a secluded area to conduct tactical medical exercises.”
The contract between the City of Escondido and DHS did not go before city council and was not approved directly.
“There is signature approval authority that is given to department heads, city managers, and city council. This contract fell underneath the amount that only required department head signature approval,” according to City Clerk Zack Beck.
The city council approves contracts for amounts over $200,000, and department heads can approve contracts up to $75,000, according to section 10-96 of the City of Escondido’s procurement guidelines. The guidelines were reviewed by L.A. TACO and received from the City of Escondido.
The California Values Act, Senate Bill 54 passed in 2017, limits the cooperation between state and local law enforcement and federal agencies for the purposes of federal immigration enforcement.
"Our department does not actively participate in any training with any agency in the Department of Homeland Security at this facility,” Lieutenant Hicks of the Escondido Police Department told L.A. TACO.
Escondido Police Officers have been using this facility for over 50 years, and it has been used by other regional law enforcement–including federal law enforcement agencies, according to the San Diego-Union Tribune.
Escondido’s Police Department had a partnership with ICE in 2010, which resulted in more than 800 arrests by 2012, according to the San Diego Union-Tribune.
There were no public hearings or meetings held that discussed the program, and there was no written agreement between the agencies for the program called “Operation Joint-Effort.” The program faced criticism from the community and immigrant rights groups. It ended in the years since.
Escondido has seen the highest number of ICE arrests in North County–as of 2025 there were at least 51 detentions, according to the Voice of San Diego.
At least two incidents of federal agent activity occurred in Escondido yesterday. A Homeland Security Investigations agent and other masked agents detained a man in the parking lot of Northgate Market on North Broadway.
A masked U.S. Border Patrol agent and two unmarked vehicles were seen in another nearby parking lot, on North Broadway and West Washington Boulevard. Video and images were provided to L.A. TACO by Maria Soto and an anonymous source.
One of these unmarked vehicles, with the license plate 9HED083, was seen during federal immigration activity on January 16, at Walmart in National City, according to a video posted by @officialarturoo, and shared with L.A. TACO by @moralresistance, who tracks federal immigration license plates.
There has been an increase in the amount of shootings involving federal immigration agents since President Trump took office. U.S. Border Patrol fired shots in a residential neighborhood in Willowbrook yesterday. Renee Good was shot and killed by a federal immigration officer in Minnesota this month, sparking continuing protests. Keith Porter was shot and killed by an off-duty ICE agent in Los Angeles on the first day of the year.
“This is an untenable outrage that makes our city LESS safe and invites conflict, and I'm sure that you all understand the many implications and negative connotations of intimately cooperating with ICE in our community,” Brenda Gunderson Townsend, a concerned Escondido resident told L.A. TACO. She is urging community members to contact the city.
The increase in federal immigration enforcement activity has sparked protests by Escondido residents in recent months. On January 11, many Escondido residents protested by calling for ICE to get out of Escondido.
Questions remain: How does the Escondido Police Department ensure that ICE or HSI will be using the firing range for training purposes, and not for something like staging for federal immigration enforcement operations?
How does the Escondido Police Department conduct oversight of their usage of this facility, is there an officer who is present?
L.A. TACO reached out to the Department of Homeland Security and Chief Plunkett, and did not receive comment.
