San Diego County filed a federal lawsuit against the Trump Administration on Tuesday after federal officials last month blocked a public health inspection of the Otay Mesa Immigrant Detention Center. The suit was filed against the Department of Homeland Security, Immigration and Customs Enforceme nt, and private prison company CoreCivic, after county leaders say the Trump administration failed to respond to a request to conduct the public health inspection. The county seeks a preliminary and permanent injunction requiring a full inspection while the case proceeds in court. Former Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem was named in preliminary documents but will be replaced in that role by Oklahoma Senator Markwayne Mullin. “There is too much at stake with hundreds of people detained at Otay, so we want this to go through the legal system quickly,” said San Diego County Board Chair Terra Lawson-Remer, who was blocked from inspecting Otay in February along with Board Chair Pro Tem Paloma Aguirre despite initially being cleared by the local ICE office. “Once again, this is about the rule of law.” County officials say detainees have reported freezing temperatures, untreated medical conditions and food unfit for human consumption at the facility, prompting requests for elected officials and public health personnel to inspect the prison. Milena Araya-Davis, who was brought to the U.S. when she was 4 years old, grew up in Southern California and was detained on Dec. 15 at her green card interview. On Tuesday, she spoke to NBC about her being held in Otay Mesa for a week. “It was really scary, to say the least,” Araya-Davis said. “Very overwhelming, shocking — just a mix of emotions. Very sad.” Araya-Davis confirmed, at least in part, what the county suspects conditions are like inside the facility. “It’s freezing in there — I would say like 50 degrees — you’re constantly cold,” Araya Davis said, adding, “They keep the lights on all day, so it’s really, at least for me, it was really hard to sleep, because I’m not used to sleeping with those big, bright, like, white lights on.” She also described the food she was provided with inside Otay Mesa. “There was one day where I got served three slices of cake and two portions of rice — like regular sponge cake like you would pick up at Albertsons or something,” Araya–Davis said. “I ate it all because that’s the only thing that we had to eat, but it’s not nutritious…. They say that it’s supposed to meet the 2,000-calories-a-day requirement, but, personally, I don’t think it does.” She also said the detainees were provided with what she described as a very small portion of vegetables but said what they were given was mostly carbs but they were served other food as well. “There was one day we got a meatball … and it was fully burnt on the outside, so, lik,e black on the outside, and I bit into it, and it was pink, like fully pink, on the inside,” Araya-Davis said. Araya-Davis also alleged she was denied medication for a time while she was held. “I was taking medication for a pinched nerve in my back, which I was denied the first three days that I was there,” Araya-Davis said. “So I was in a lot of pain because it was something that I would take twice a day, and I wasn’t able to take it for those first three days.” The county’s public health officer was only given limited approval to view the facility last month, while a group of elected officials that included U.S. Sen. Alex Padilla, D-California, and Lawson-Remer and Aguirre was denied entry. “San Diego County has a legal and moral responsibility to protect the health of everyone within our borders, regardless of who operates the facility or who is held inside,” Aguirre said at a news conference outside the federal courthouse in San Diego. “By blocking a legitimate public health inspection, federal officials and CoreCivic are choosing secrecy over safety. “We are filing this lawsuit because no one — not even a federal agency or a for-profit corporation — is above the law. If they have nothing to hide, they should open the doors.” Otay Mesa Detention Center is operated by CoreCivic under a federal contract worth roughly $269 million over the past year, the county statement read. The company collects around $217 per detainee per day from taxpayers. San Diego County Public Health Officer Dr. Sayone Thihalolipavan’s inspection did not include access to medical records, confidential interviews with detainees and facility health policies, officials said. “Time is of the essence,” said Damon Brown, San Diego County Counsel. “The complaint makes clear that the county’s inability to complete this inspection is causing ongoing and irreparable harm to the county and its residents.” With reporting by NBC 7’s Shelby Bremer — Ed. ...read more read less