Un juez se muestra a favor de bloquear el proyecto de instalación de ICE en el sur del condado.

A federal judge has indicated she is leaning toward granting a preliminary injunction that would block a controversial plan to create an ICE facility in South County as the lawsuit against it proceeds.

Eumi Lee, a judge with the Northern District of California, issued a tentative ruling Friday in which she said that plaintiffs have demonstrated a “likelihood of success” in making their argument that the project violates federal environmental law.

If granted, the preliminary injunction would prevent construction work from resuming at the 25-acre site until the resolution of a lawsuit brought by California Attorney General Rob Bonta and officials with Santa Clara County. Lee will make a final ruling during a hearing scheduled for Sept. 8 at 2 p.m. at San Jose’s federal courthouse.

The two-page tentative ruling, while not definitive, has provided optimism to those who oppose the facility that has begun to take shape on unincorporated land just east of Gilroy.

“We believe the evidence is clear that the federal government ignored the law and tried to secret through a project that will have devastating, long-term impacts throughout the region,” Santa Clara County Counsel Tony LoPresti told San José Spotlight. “If the court’s tentative ruling holds, it will be a major victory for the community and the rule of law.”

La demanda, filed in June, argues the federal government has illegally bypassed environmental laws, local zoning rules and other statutes in advancing the project to create a facility intended to support the work of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officials. Detention space in the planned facility, located at 7240 Holsclaw Road, would be large enough to hold more than 100 people, according to county officials’ assessment of project blueprints.

Revelations about the facility have ignited fears that President Donald Trump’s campaign of mass deportations could soon expand in the Bay Area.

Federal officials have already agreed to pausar temporalmente construction and demolition work at the site — first observed in April — under a compromise agreement struck in July between both parties.

As part of the tentative ruling, Lee appears to be asking both sides to prepare to provide input on the scope and content of the preliminary injunction, according to David Sloss, a constitutional and property law professor at Santa Clara University.

“It is still possible that ICE could win on the merits when the court issues a final decision,” Sloss told San José Spotlight. “That may not happen for another year or two.”

State and county officials have argued that the federal government has not adequately reviewed the potential risk that development work could disturb hazardous materials likely present in the soil at the site, and therefore failed to meet the requirements of the National Environmental Policy Act.

In their own filings, federal attorneys have asserted the detention facilities will be far less expansive than portrayed in the lawsuit. They claim the space will be used only to hold and process about 10 people on a temporary basis as they await immigration proceedings.

Federal officials have also pushed back against the environmental concerns. They argue the project should be exempt from federal environmental review requirements because the site already houses an office building, and the proposed ICE facility will not significantly change how the land has been used.

Advocates organizing under the banner of the ICE Out of Gilroy Coalition are planning to stage a Sept. 8 rally outside the courthouse beginning at 1:30 p.m. and continuing until the hearing concludes.

“It’s a tentative order, so this is tentative good news,” Huy Tran, executive director of Services, Immigrant Rights and Education Network, which is part of the coalition, told San José Spotlight. “But it’s still important for us to make sure that we are there on Tuesday to show that the community is invested in the outcome of this case, and that the community is standing squarely in opposition to what ICE is trying to do.”

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