Gilroy extends temporary ban on detention center projects

With time waning on a moratorium to prevent detention centers from being built in the city, Gilroy officials have extended the pause for more than 10 months.

The City Council on Monday unanimously approved extending the temporary ban, approved in October, for another 10 months and 15 days. The moratorium gives city staff time to review, study and propose a more permanent change to the city zoning regarding detention centers.

The decision, which prohibits new detention facility projects on public- and private-owned property, aligns with the city’s opposition to the planned U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) facility on Holsclaw Road. San Jose officials approved a similar moratorium in September.

Mayor Greg Bozzo said the review and development of appropriate standards require more time than the initial 45-day moratorium allows. The extension gives the city the necessary time to evaluate potential impacts and develop standards that reflect Gilroy’s needs and long-term goals.

“These decisions deserve thoughtful consideration, including how such facilities could affect public services, neighborhood safety and our community’s economic vitality,” Bozzo told San José Spotlight. “The moratorium gives us time to listen to residents and take meaningful steps, within the city’s authority, to move forward.”

The council meeting was lightly attended, despite the serious concerns many residents conveyed when officials approved the initial 45-day moratorium last month. Just one person spoke during public comment, and said the council should extend the pause. The city has the ability to extend it one more time, for an additional year, at the end of the latest 10-month extension.

“Obviously I think you should pass this (extension),” Ashley Antonich Sarabia, a San Jose resident who has spoken out against the planned ICE facility outside city limits, told councilmembers at the meeting. “It’s needed. It’s necessary. Keep your community safe. You owe it to all of us to keep us safe.”

The movement against the ICE facility proposed just east of Gilroy has been picking up steam, with Santa Clara County and state officials filing a June lawsuit to halt it. A federal judge in September granted a preliminary injunction blocking construction on the facility as the larger legal battle plays out.

Detention space in the planned ICE facility would be large enough to hold more than 100 people, according to county officials who have reviewed the federal government’s plans. Revelations about the facility, first reported by San José Spotlight in May, have stoked fears that President Donald Trump’s administration is laying the groundwork for more expansive immigration enforcement operations in the Bay Area.

As originally written, the moratorium would have carved out detention facilities from other law enforcement agencies. At a previous meeting, Councilmember Terence Fugazzi amended it to strike that carve out, which the council approved.

“This strengthens the legality by reducing the chance that this could be seen as unfairly discriminatory should ICE choose to legally oppose (the ban),” Fugazzi previously told San José Spotlight.

The council stopped short of prohibiting the use of city property as a staging area, processing location or operations base for immigration enforcement activity, with councilmembers saying it was merely a symbolic move. Police Chief Brandon Sanchez said whether staging areas are prohibited or not, the Gilroy Police Department will seek cooperation with federal agents.

Contact Giovanni Albanese Jr. at [email protected].