California sues Trump administration over planned ICE facility near Gilroy
California Adv. Gen. Rob Bonta and Santa Clara County officials announced a new lawsuit will be filed against the Trump administration aimed at blocking the planned immigration facility near Gilroy.
Case, The lawsuit, filed Wednesday in U.S. District Court in San José, alleges that the leased land is zoned solely for agricultural use and violates the federal government’s laws requiring state and county notification as well as required procedural steps before starting construction.
agency he told San José Spotlight He denied that the project was an ICE office and that it would be a detention center. However, state and local officials believe the facility will be used for short-term detention of up to 150 people at a time.
“The administration is trying to hand over a new facility to a community that doesn’t want it, circumventing laws, shrouding its plans in secrecy, and ignoring calls from the community to stop,” Bonta said at a news conference in San José, adding that this was the 71st lawsuit his office has filed against the Trump administration.
The Department of Homeland Security did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
The lawsuit also alleges that the property is in an area known to harbor many endangered and threatened species, and that a facility there would strain limited waste disposal and drinking water infrastructure.
Santa Clara County officials said they were not notified last year when the federal government leased about 25 acres of unincorporated land just outside Gilroy with plans to build a facility for U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement. According to the lawsuit, the parcel includes three buildings, greenhouses and a large agricultural area.
Community members warned the county about the upcoming facility earlier this year and protested the plans. Construction began early last month, according to the lawsuit.
The land is located at 7240 Holsclaw Road, three miles southeast of Gilroy Premium Outlets. federal procurement records show. The Department of Homeland Security received a 20-year, $26.5 million lease from a subsidiary of Elmwood Capital Group, a real estate investment firm based in Beverly Hills.
ICE also has a processing facility in nearby Morgan Hill.
According to the lawsuit, agricultural research companies that previously occupied the property produced hazardous waste that was not disposed of properly.
“The federal government’s apparent failure to address these risks — much less endanger the construction workers building the site, the detainees and employees who will be on site, and the environment beneath and surrounding the site,” the lawsuit said.
According to the lawsuit, the federal government’s only official communication with the county regarding the project was a one-paragraph letter dated June 21, 2023, delivered by a representative of Elmwood Capital. The letter stated that the federal government was planning “office and operations space” there and that it should be exempt from local zoning and planning review.
“Part of the problem here is they’re trying to move this project forward with as little transparency as possible and hope no one notices, no one understands the details,” Santa Clara County Counsel Tony LoPresti said. “So part of what our lawsuit will do is push for transparency.”
ICE storage facilities have been the subject of numerous lawsuits since the beginning of the Trump administration, alleging overcrowding, poor conditions and quarantines lasting days and weeks.
Bonta and LoPresti said the construction of an ICE facility in Gilroy signals the federal government’s desire to increase enforcement in the area.
Advocates and local leaders raised similar concerns in Dublin, another Bay Area city where federal officials are working to transfer ownership of a former prison. Congressional Democrats sent a letter Earlier this month, we opposed the possibility of reopening it as an immigration detention facility.
