By Hans Leguizamo
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GILROY, Calif. – ICE is not welcome here. Over the last several weeks that has been the clear and consistent message from residents of Gilroy, many of whom turned out July 19 to demand a halt to the planned construction of an ICE facility in the city.
Construction was paused this week after California Attorney General Rob Bonta and Santa Clara County, where Gilroy is located, sued the federal government over the planned site. The pause is set to last through Sep. 9.
The suit contends the property on which the site is to be built is exclusively zoned for agricultural purposes. It also argues the federal government failed to notify local authorities in a timely manner about the proposed construction.
In a post on X, California Gov. Gavin Newsom expressed his opposition to the center. “At a time when communities are already living in fear, the Trump Admin is constructing this ICE facility while blatantly disregarding basic legal requirements and local concerns,” Newsom wrote.
In a statement, Bonta called the pause in construction “a significant step toward protecting our people, our communities and our environment.”
More than half (58%) of residents in Gilroy — an agricultural community on the southern edge of the Bay Area known locally as the “Garlic Capital of the World” — identify as Latino, according to the latest census figures.
Organizers here say the ICE facility would instill fear across the community. And while they welcome the pause in construction, they warn the court has yet to make a final decision. Which means the fight to prevent the site from being built will continue.
“We have many farmworkers here and we want them to feel supported and heard,” said Rebeca Armendariz, a fourth-generation resident of Gilroy and part of the ICE Out of Gilroy coalition.
The group organized Sunday’s protest at San Ysidro Park near the site of the planned facility, which ICE maintains will function as an administrative center.
Documents obtained by the non-profit news site San Jose Spotlight, however, show the center would span 20,000 square feet, with space to hold up to 150 detainees, as well as facilities for mothers with their infants, visiting rooms, and ammunition and tactical equipment.
Plans for the site were first made public in May. Armendariz and others say the location at 7240 Holsclaw Road, on an unincorporated stretch of property along Highway 152, would allow ICE to facilitate transfers of detainees throughout the region.
The Gilroy location, she added, goes hand in hand with plans to convert a former women’s prison in Dublin, about 70 miles north, into an ICE detention center.
“It will affect the Central Valley, the Central Coast and the Bay Area because we are in the very center of these areas,” noted Armendariz.
Recent reporting shows ICE detention numbers spiking in recent months, with more than 43,000 people detained in June of this year, marking a record surge.
The agency has come under increased scrutiny after an ICE agent killed Lorenzo Salgado Araujo in Houston on July 7, while another ICE agent in Maine shot and killed Joan Sebastían Guerrero days later.
At least 22 people have died in ICE custody this year.
“By having a processing center so close,” said Armendariz, “it will be much easier for them to steal human beings, removing them from the community.”
