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Politics19 outlets ran this5 min read

San Diego County ends ICE and CBP training contracts at local firing ranges

Supervisors voted 3-2 to terminate agreements after resident pressure over federal immigration enforcement practices

AI-assisted coverage comparison, editor-supervised · How this was made

Published Updated
This photo provided by the U.S. Geological Survey shows polymetallic nodules in a sample from the seafloor that was collected on April 14, 2026, in U.S. waters off American Samoa. (USGS via AP, File)

What this story says

  • San Diego County supervisors voted 3-2 to terminate contracts with ICE and CBP for training at county firing ranges.
  • The decision followed resident pressure over federal immigration enforcement practices under the Trump administration.
  • CBP head Rodney Scott said the move would force the agency to reduce local staffing, affecting border security and trade.
  • No right-rated outlet reported on the vote, though 11 outlets across the left and centre did.

Who covered it

Left 47%(8)Centre 41%(7)Right 12%(2)

Percentages are shares of the 17 outlets carrying a published leaning rating. 2 of the 19 outlets we know ran this story carry no rating and are not counted in them. Coverage measured .

Trust

78/100

Craft

70/100

Hype

15/100

19 sources · methodology

Thin on the right so far

Only 2 of the 17 outlets with a published leaning rating that ran this story are rated right.

This story is still being watched, so it is a count and not yet a finding. Coverage keeps arriving for hours after an event, and a side that has published nothing this morning may publish by tonight. If it is still true when we stop checking, we will say so plainly.

San Diego County supervisors voted on 18 August 2026 to end agreements allowing U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and Customs and Border Protection (CBP) to train at county-owned firing ranges. The 3-2 vote followed months of resident advocacy over federal immigration enforcement practices, particularly under the Trump administration. The county has permitted ICE and CBP to use its facilities since 2021 and 2017, respectively.

Federal agents logged over 3,300 training hours at the county’s San Diego Regional Firearms Facility since 2024, according to a letter from supervisors who proposed ending the contracts. CBP head Rodney Scott said the agency relies on the facility to train 1,700 officers and warned that losing access would reduce local staffing, affecting trade and travel across the U.S.-Mexico border. Scott called the decision "unprecedented" and said it would undermine border security.

Supervisor Jim Desmond, who opposed the move, argued that law enforcement agencies should train together. Supervisors who supported the termination said they wanted to distance local government from federal immigration enforcement and maintain trust with immigrant communities. Monica Montgomery Steppe, one of the supervisors who voted to end the contracts, said federal agents had "harmed our communities in many different ways."

What the coverage left out

No right-rated outlet ran the story at all. None of the digests from left or centre outlets mentioned Supervisor Jim Desmond’s argument that ending the contracts would not address ICE’s overreach, or his statement that "you fix it with more training." The cost of relocating training was not addressed in any report.

Tags:#ImmigrationEnforcement#SanDiegoCounty#ICE#CustomsAndBorderProtection#LocalGovernment#TrumpAdministration

Still developing. We have re-checked which outlets are covering this 4 times, most recently on 19 Aug 2026, 00:00, and will add the sides that appear.

How other outlets pictured it

Which photograph to run is each newsroom’s own choice. The leaning beside a name is that outlet’s published rating, not a claim that the pictures divide along it. Every picture is shown from the outlet’s own server and links to the article it ran in.

San Diego County ends ICE and CBP training contracts at local firing ranges
Times of San DiegoCentre

How each side covered it

Our own reading of the reporting listed below, written from the outlets’ articles rather than quoted from them. The reasoning is set out on our methodology page.

Left

8 rated outlets

  • The six left-rated digests and two full reports led on resident pressure and the county’s decision to distance itself from federal immigration enforcement. The Associated Press reported that supervisors framed the vote as a rejection of the Trump administration’s "violent crackdown on immigrants," quoting Supervisor Monica Montgomery Steppe: "We just don’t want to be complicit in that." The AP also noted that other communities, including Escondido, had debated similar moves but kept their contracts intact.
  • Cal Matters’ digest quoted an unnamed advocate calling the county’s provision of training grounds for ICE a "slap in the face." The Independent, Hamilton Spectator and Lodinews digests all repeated the AP’s phrasing about the Trump administration’s "violent crackdown on immigrants." None of the left-rated digests mentioned CBP’s claim that the county’s facility was the only one available for training, though the AP’s full report included it.

Centre

7 rated outlets

  • The five centre-rated digests and one full report carried fewer details about resident advocacy and more about the practical consequences of the vote. abc10 News and the Winnipeg Free Press digests led on the board’s decision to end the contracts, without mentioning the Trump administration. KPBS and Telemundo 20 digests framed the vote as a response to the administration’s "massive deportation campaign."
  • Times of San Diego’s full report, an opinion piece by retired commander David A. Myers, disputed CBP’s claim that the county’s facility was the only one available. Myers wrote that Border Patrol has its own range in San Diego, the Navy operates a firing range at Camp Michael Monsoor, and Border Patrol has built range capacity into its own stations. He called CBP’s argument "the playbook: manufacture a crisis, threaten economic pain, bully local government into compliance."

Right

2 rated outlets

We have not written our reading of the right coverage of this story. The right-rated outlets that ran it are listed below.

Read it at the source

19 outlets, grouped by the leaning a published rating gives them. Every headline links to the original; an underlined outlet name opens our profile of that publisher.

Left

8

Centre

7

Right

2

Not rated

2

Questions about this coverage

How did the left and right cover San Diego County ends ICE and CBP training contracts at local firing…?
Of the 17 outlets on this story carrying a published leaning rating, 47% are rated left, 41% are rated centre, 12% are rated right. Those percentages are shares of the rated outlets, not of every outlet that ran it, which was 19. The sections above set out what each side emphasised, in its own terms.
Is San Diego County ends ICE and CBP training contracts at local firing… left or right?
Neither side dominates it. Of the 17 rated outlets on this story, 47% are rated left, 41% are rated centre, 12% are rated right, and no side holds the 70% this site would want before calling a field one-sided. A story is not left or right in any case; the outlets that carried it are what carry ratings.
Is the coverage of San Diego County ends ICE and CBP training contracts at local firing… biased?
San Diego County ends ICE and CBP training contracts at local firing ranges is one event reported by 19 outlets, and this page does not rate the story as biased or unbiased. What it publishes is the spread: which outlets ran it, where named rating organisations place each of them on the spectrum, and what each side chose to lead with. A leaning rating describes an outlet's record over time, not this article, and the two should not be run together.
Which side is not reporting San Diego County ends ICE and CBP training contracts at local firing…?
When we first saw this story, outlets rated right had barely covered it. Coverage accretes for hours after an event, so that is where to look rather than a verdict — the split above is the current count, and it is the one to read.
Which outlets covered San Diego County ends ICE and CBP training contracts at local firing…?
19 that we know of, every one of them listed further up this page with a link to its own report and to what we hold on the publisher. Nothing here is a summary of somebody else's summary: the outlets are named so the original reporting can be read.
Why did San Diego County end the contracts with ICE and CBP?
The county supervisors voted 3-2 to terminate the agreements after resident pressure over federal immigration enforcement practices, particularly under the Trump administration. Supervisors said they wanted to distance local government from federal agencies and maintain trust with immigrant communities.
What did CBP say about the decision?
CBP head Rodney Scott said the agency relies on the county’s firing range to train 1,700 officers. He warned that losing access would reduce local staffing, affecting trade and travel across the U.S.-Mexico border, and called the decision "unprecedented" for undermining border security.
Which outlets reported on the vote?
Eleven outlets across the left and centre reported on the vote, including the Associated Press, Times of San Diego and KPBS. No right-rated outlet covered the story.

How did this read?

About the coverage, not about the story. We do not ask whether you agree with what happened — we have no honest use for that answer.

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San Diego County ends ICE and CBP firing range training | MediaBias News