GILROY, Calif. – Rebeca Armendariz is a fourth-generation resident of Gilroy, a farming community known locally as the world’s Garlic Capital. The city is also the site of a proposed new migrant detention center, something Armendariz is fighting to prevent.
A former city councilmember, Armendariz was among the first to sound the alarm about the proposed center after noticing the arrival of contractors from Los Angeles in May.
“That whole area, that road — locals call it Lake Road because it’s a very short road with a lot of curves, very isolated, and no more than two lanes,” said Armendariz, gesturing east toward the site of the proposed 4,000-square-foot processing facility.
Persistent rumors about the planned construction began to circulate among neighbors and immigrant rights advocates in this majority-Latino community in April. Soon after it was announced that the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) had secured a 20-year, $26.5 million lease on a 24.5-acre plot of unincorporated land just east of the city.
Armendariz, currently a community organizer with Working Partnerships USA — a non-profit that advocates for working families and low-wage labor unions — says despite its relative isolation, the location is strategic for Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) because it quickly connects to Highway 152, a major east-west thoroughfare connecting Gilroy and the larger region to the Central Valley. That, says Armendariz, makes it easier to transport detainees.
While there are currently eight active ICE detention facilities in California, none are located north of Bakersfield, 200 miles to the south. According to Armendariz, construction of the center in Gilroy goes hand-in-hand with plans to convert a now shuttered women’s prison in Dublin, about 60 miles north, into an ICE facility.
Locals have dubbed the plan a “two headed beast,” explains Armendariz, noting the Gilroy facility would operate in tandem with the potential reopening of the scandal plagued FCI Dublin federal prison. Together, the two centers would create an unprecedented mass detention pipeline in Northern California.
“They are two towers that help each other, that complement each other,” said Armendariz. “Dublin would be used to hold people, and Gilroy to process them quickly so [ICE] does not have to drive so far; they want everything right at their fingertips. Having the center in Dublin and the [Gilroy] office to process people makes it much easier.”
Around 57% of residents in Gilroy are Latino. Many work in the fields that surround the city, providing the labor needed to keep the region’s agricultural economy afloat. Like similar communities across the state there are also a large number of mixed-status households where at least one family member is undocumented.
Not surprisingly there is fierce local resistance to the planned center.
“People are afraid,” acknowledged Armendariz, “but they also know there is information out there that they need to empower themselves and not panic.”
At a June town hall some 500 residents came together to discuss the proposed center and strategies to prevent its construction. Santa Clara County Supervisors Sylvia Arenas and Betty Young were among elected officials in attendance. They reaffirmed their commitment to defending against what they called an “infrastructure of terror.”
A June 13 protest also drew several hundred residents carrying signs denouncing the planned center.
“We will come out in mass, and we will prove that we will not quiet down, we will not give up, and we will not take any excuse they give in order to forget about the issue entirely,” Landon Sepulveda told one local outlet covering the rally. “We will not stop; we will not back down; we will march and make noise until they listen to us.”
On June 25 California’s state attorney general, Rob Bonta, joined with Santa Clara County in filing an injunction seeking to halt construction of the center in Gilroy. In an earlier lawsuit Bonta’s office argued construction of the facility violates California law, including the state’s National Environmental Policy Act and the Immigration and Nationality Act.
“This attempt to construct an ICE facility without complying with the applicable laws is dangerous for the environment and for our people. California refuses to stand idly by,” said Bonta in a statement.
During the town hall, Santa Clara County Attorney Tony LoPresti confirmed the county is coordinating with Bonta’s office in resisting the facility, though he warned it would be an uphill battle, citing what he said was this White House’s propensity to rely on the “Supremacy Clause,” which states that federal law takes precedent over state and local legislation.
Still, he added, “It doesn’t mean they live in a lawless world and can move forward without any oversight.”
LoPresti said his team would do everything in its power “to hold [the administration] accountable,” adding, “you cannot plant a detention center in this area without a very significant impact on the environment” and the surrounding agricultural lands.
Those environmental concerns have taken on added urgency with the planned completion of a nearby Amazon data center that residents fear could impact local water quality. The center is expected to be operational by the end of this year.
“We don’t want to let racist policies — systems that work together with a data center right here in Gilroy to use our data and use our images to oppress, to kidnap people who continue to build our economy,” Armendariz told the crowd during the June 13 rally. “So together … we’re going to work together to stop them from bringing ICE agents into the fields and detaining workers.”
This story is part of “Aquí Estamos/Here We Stand,” a collaborative reporting project of American Community Media and community news outlets statewide.
Thanks very much for this very detailed report.
Who at the local level is pushing for the center to open?