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HomeMy WebLinkAboutCC 06-16-2026 Oral Communications_Written Communications (2)1 Lauren Sapudar From:Connie Cunningham <cunninghamconniel@gmail.com> Sent:Tuesday, June 16, 2026 2:33 PM To:City Clerk; City Council Subject:2026-6-16 CC Oral Communication: Block ICE Facility near Gilroy CAUTION: This email originated from outside of the organization. Do not click links or open attachments unless you recognize the sender and know the content is safe. Dear Mayor Moore, Vice Mayor, and Councilmembers, I exhort City Council to join Cupertino voices with Santa Clara County and the State of California to block ICE Facility near Gilroy. Attached is the full email sent by Supervisor Abe Koba of District 5 about actions taken by the County and the State. You can reply to district5@bos.sccgov.org about this stand they have taken. "On Wednesday, June 10, Santa Clara County joined forces with California Attorney General Rob Bonta to file a lawsuit ICE facility near Gilroy. " Included are links to an article by San Jose Spotlight, the full 175 page report by Attorney General Bonta, the County’s full press release of the laws being violated, and the full news conference that you can watch. I deeply appreciate the words of Tony LoPresit county counsel of Santa Clara County. "We are ready. We are willing. And we are able to hold the federal government accountable in the courts.” I exhort City Council to join Cupertino voices with Santa Clara County and the State of California to block an ICE Facility near Gilroy. Connie Cunningham 39 year residents; Housing Commissioner speaking for myself only Attachment below: To help protect your priv acy, Microsoft Office prevented automatic download of this picture from the Internet. Supervisor Abe-Koga's Newsletter Dear Friends, Santa Clara County and the State of California sue the federal administration to block ICE Facility near Gilroy On Wednesday, June 10, Santa Clara County joined forces with California Attorney General Rob Bonta to file a lawsuit an ICE facility near Gilroy. In the words of Tony LoPresti, county counsel of Santa Clara County: 2 "We are ready. We are willing. And we are able to hold the federal government accountable in the courts.” To help protect your priv acy, Microsoft Office prevented automatic download of this picture from the Internet. Attorney General Rob Bonta speaking at the press conference Anxiety has been high since reports of a potential ICE detention center began to surface last May. Records show that centers suffer not only from enforcement, but from fear of enforcement. Daily life in communities withers as people seek safe activities at churches and youth sports decline from lack of people to participate. The 25-acre facility in unincorporated Gilroy that was leased out in 2025 suddenly ramped up activity last month, when local people noticed demolition of existing agricultural structures. And now construction has been observed. While the federal administration has been tight blueprints uncovered by the publication, San Jose Spotlight, reveal a 20,000-square-foot facility capable of holding up to 150 detainees at a time. Nowhere in the County’s zoning code for this area does it say that a facility designed to detain human beings is allowed to b said. In fact, the site, which sits by the Llagas Creek along a winding stretch of Holsclaw Road, is zoned exclusively for agricultural use Documents show that the federal government leased the property for $26 million over 20 years. Demolition and construction act yet neither the owner nor the federal government has applied for a single county permit. The failure to com municate with local and state governments, whose laws govern aspects of land use or environmental review, is alarming for its implications for pollution of the local Ll the existing septic system. The site has had three decades of documented leaks and spills of chemical compounds -- which could be disturbed by the demolition and construction activities. Based on what we know about other federal detention sites, the blueprints suggest the site would be used for short-term detainment before shipping people to larger detention centers around the country. Such facilities are called Enforcement and Removal Ope rations offices, designed for administrative and short-term detainment, and are not equipped with the infrastructure needed for long-term detention. Attorney General Bonta said that across the country, such short-term offices have been misused as defacto long-term, detention sites, plagued by overcrowded and inhumane conditions stemming from the stepped-up campaign to grab as many people as possible. His office just released a 175 page report reviewing conditions at the seven detention facilities operating in Central and Southern California. There is an eighth facility that service just before the report came out. “Not only is the federal government not working with us, they are actively working against us. Against the law. And against the best interest of Santa Clara County,” said Attorney General Rob Bonta. This filing marks the 11th case Santa Clara County has filed against the Trump Administration and the 71st by the attorney and constitutional rights of our communities. County Counsel Tony LoPresti summed it up. “Our suit carries a simple message: In this county and in this state, the law does not yield to the Trump administration’s crusade against the immigrant community.” The complaint outlines five distinct federal and state laws being violated. You can read each violation in the County’s full We will fight this secretive development clearly on a fast track to build in order to bypass state and local laws. The County attorney general are seeking injunctive relief, steadfast in belief that a court will stop the action and force the federal government to comply with the law. We will continue to fight this project with every legal tool at our disposal. I am grateful for the long hours put in by the lawyers and investigators in the Office of the County Counsel, the lawyers in and the assistance of Stanford professor Michelle Wilde Anderson. We are fortunate that we can depend on the dedication and knowledge of such professionals. 3 Please watch the news conference and hear for yourself how committed they are. What is at stake are the lives of people in our community, and in many ways, what makes us a community at all. ***end of my email *** Supervisor Margaret Abe-Koga 70 W. Hedding Street San Jose, CA (408) 299-5050 To help protect your privacy, Microsoft Office prevented automatic download of this picture from the Internet.Instagram To help protect your privacy, Microsoft Office prevented automatic download of this picture from the Internet.Facebook To help protect your privacy, Microsoft Office prevented automatic download of this picture from the Internet.LinkedIn Unsubscribe from future updates