DHS Secretary Kristi Noem visits Otay Mesa, says border is secure

SAN DIEGO, Calif. (KESQ) - Kristi Noem, Department of Homeland Security Secretary, visited the Otay Mesa detention facility today to tout the border's security and denounce Democrats for failing to fund her department, likely leading to a shutdown Saturday.

Mike Banks, chief of the United States Border Patrol, joined Noem, along with San Diego County Assistant Sheriff Ken Jones and Customs and Border Protection Acting Executive Assistant Commissioner Diane J. Sabatino in front of a dramatic backdrop of thousands of pounds of illicit drugs seized at the Otay Mesa Port of Entry. Protesters also were vocal during the speech.   

"We're winning the fight against fentanyl,'' Noem said, before encouraging Gov. Gavin Newsom to give up 33,000 immigrants whom Immigration and Customs Enforcement has accused of committing crimes.

The secretary said Otay Mesa alone has 188,218 pounds of seized illicit drugs, and mentioned several parents whose children have died from fentanyl overdoses.

Banks, who attended Southwestern College in Chula Vista, blamed the Biden Administration for what he described as lax border policies and was proud of the fact that under President Trump, the United States "Has not released a single illegal alien in nine months.'' Banks was sworn into the chief role last month.  

Rep. Mike Levin, D-San Clemente, denounced the whole visit as a carefully timed photo opportunity.

"Sec. Noem decided to hold a press conference at Otay Mesa on a day when there would be no members of the San Diego Congressional Delegation there to demand answers, press her on ICE abuses, or hold DHS accountable. It is nothing more than a staged photo op,'' Levin said. ``Noem doesn't want to answer our questions because she doesn't want to defend the indefensible. If she and the Trump Administration were serious about reforming our broken immigration system, they'd be at the negotiating table to pass legislation like the bipartisan Dignity Act, not staging press conferences.

"We need real solutions and we need guardrails on ICE, not more political theater.''

Congress was in session Thursday, and the Senate voted 52-47 to pass a bill to fund DHS -- well short of the 60 votes needed. This essentially guarantees the department will shut down this weekend, impacting more than 260,000 federal employees including in the Federal Emergency Management Agency, the Transportation Security Administration and the U.S. Coast Guard. ICE and CBP agents will likely be able to continue operating even without the funding for other parts of the department.  

The Democrats -- with the exception of Sen. John Fetterman, D-Pennsylvania -- rejected the bill, which they said did not do enough to reform ICE following the shooting deaths of Renee Good and Alex Pretti in Minnesota last month.

"Democrats have been very clear,'' said Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer, D-New York. ``We will not support an extension of the status quo, a status quo that permits masked secret police to barge into people's homes without warrants, no guardrails, zero oversight from independent authorities.''  

Noem said Democrats did not want to protect the country.   

"It's the wrong message to send to the world at this point in time,'' she said. "When you think about it, every other portion of the federal government has been funded except Homeland Security.''

Last week, Rep. Juan Vargas, D-San Diego, was turned away from the ICE- contracted Otay Mesa Detention Center, breaking a long-held precedent and leading the congressman to call to `dismantle' ICE.  

"I've received so many complaints now, my office has, that again conditions are less than standard and getting people sick,'' Vargas said. ``And unfortunately, recently now, I've been receiving reports that they are putting people in cages like they used to. And they didn't allow me to see if that's true or not."  

Noem balked at the suggestion standards were sub-par, but also did not mention any improvement in oversight of the facility.   

"Federal standards at our detention facilities are the highest that there are in this country,'' she said. In fact, we have a higher level of status than many states or local communities have at their jails or detention centers. We're proud of the fact that every single individual when they come that they're well taken care of, they receive food and medical care and then we return them as quickly as we can to their home countries, if they are being held.''

The center's senior warden, Christopher J. LaRose, told Vargas allowing him to visit wasn't up to him, it was up to ICE and the federal government. LaRose works for CoreCivic, a private prison company. The Otay Mesa Detention Center is a minimum/medium security federal prison under contract with ICE and the U.S. Marshals Service.   

"Congress has the duty and responsibility and the right to oversight for these facilities. We're going to see now if we're going to sue them to get in, because this is outrageous,'' Vargas said Friday. ``Again, I have every right to be there. I don't know what they're doing there. I mean what are they doing? I mean you see now it's like one of those bad movies where they are throwing things over the fence and saying `Help me.' This is the terror that I'm going through."  

When asked about what Democrats have to do to contest ICE, Vargas admitted they ``have to do a lot more.''   

"What we have right now is an invading army,'' he said. "What they've done is they've trampled on the Constitution and the rights of the people. Now they've even murdered people. So now, we just can't say OK, everything's fine, we're just going to give you less money.

"No, that agency should be dismantled completely. Everybody thinks that ICE is natural; ICE was created fairly recently and it's been a rogue agency that has not operated well. Something has to change.''  

Noem offered a terse solution.   

"Every single individual in that detention facility is given the opportunity to go home to their home country,'' she said. ``It's their choice if they want to stay there or not.''

Following Vargas' failed visit, San Diego County initiated the public health inspection process at the Otay Mesa Detention Center, directing staff to ``assert the county's authority to examine health and safety conditions inside the privately operated immigration detention facility,'' a statement read.

The action follows reports that people detained at Otay Mesa have been throwing lotion bottles wrapped with handwritten notes over the facility's perimeter fence during a weekly vigil. The notes allege cold temperatures, inadequate medical care, and poor-quality food.

``When people detained in a facility are reduced to throwing handwritten messages over a fence to be heard, that is a public health emergency signal,'' said San Diego County Board of Supervisors Chair Terra Lawson-Remer. ``The county is exercising its lawful authority to inspect conditions inside Otay Mesa because silence and secrecy are not acceptable when health and safety are at stake.''  

San Diego City Councilwoman and congressional candidate Marni von Wilpert said Noem owed the American people more clear answers about ICE conduct and detention.

``What ICE is doing isn't public safety -- it's out of control overreach that's unsafe, un-American and unconstitutional,'' she said. "We can and must protect public safety without terrorizing neighborhoods, tearing apart families or trampling civil liberties. San Diego County families deserve safety -- not violence, fear and abuse of power by ICE."