RIVERSIDE, Calif. -- It's been more than a year since U.S. District Judge Stephen Larson ventured from his chambers to inspect first-hand a dilapidated migrant housing encampment that the government wanted shut down for rampant health and safety violations.

Now, after months of legal wrangling and a three-week trial, Larson will finally decide whether to close the park permanently and kick its several thousand residents out.

Closing arguments begin Thursday in the non-jury trial, with government attorneys pressing for closure and welfare organizations and social workers saying that to do so would make hundreds of destitute families homeless overnight.

The judge could let Desert Mobile Home Park remain open under the care of its current, court-appointed receiver; he could order it closed immediately; or he could close the park in phases.

Whatever his decision, it will turn the page on years of legal squabbling over the site, which sprouted spontaneously when tribal member Harvey Duro opened 40 acres of his land to migrant workers in the late 1990s. County officials were cracking down on illegal migrant encampments in the county's remote southeastern desert and families flocked to the park with trailers in tow.

Because the park is on land owned by the Torres Martinez Desert Cahuilla Indians, it is immune to local and state health and safety codes.

Inspections at the site in 2007 revealed sewage wastewater several inches deep, dead rodents, swarms of flies and animal feces at the encampment, as well as inadequate drinking water, a jerry-rigged electrical system, severe overcrowding and fire hazards.

Court papers filed this month indicate 80 percent of trailers still do not have hot water and at least 19 trailers have been without power since August. Repairs and upgrades to the fire suppression system are expected to cost a half-million dollars.

Even with the legal battle, the court says there are at least 2,000 people living in the park and advocates say the number can surge to 6,000 during peak harvest season. Many of the workers are Purepecha, an indigenous Mexican people, and speak limited Spanish or English.

The workers are vital to the fertile Coachella Valley, where they harvest table grapes, dates, chili peppers and other crops.

The government first sued in 2003 to close Duroville, but reached a settlement the following year.

In July 2007, after a fire destroyed six trailers and displaced 120 residents, the Bureau of Indian Affairs paid for a two-day independent inspection and the governement sued again to close the park based on the results.

The lawsuit said Duro had not made the agreed-upon improvements and didn't have a BIA permit to run a mobile home park on tribal land.

Larson, the judge, has spent more than a year trying to force improvements at the park without evicting its residents.

He appointed two special masters and a temporary receiver in February 2008 to take over its management, improve electrical and sewage systems, smooth out roads and remove fire hazards.

Most recently, Larson stopped rent payments to Duro, who had been receiving a cut of the rent tenants were paying to a non-profit company set up to act as the middleman during the litigation.

Riverside County officials have said there are no other local, low-income housing options for the families. The first phase of a low-income mobile home park being built nearby won't be ready until 2010, according to court papers.