Santa Clara County and state seek immediate halt to ICE facility

State and local South Bay leaders have escalated their legal campaign to block a planned ICE facility near Gilroy.

California Attorney General Rob Bonta along with Santa Clara County Counsel Tony LoPresti filed a preliminary injunction in federal court Wednesday seeking to halt construction of a project that appears to be on course to create an immigration detention center large enough to hold 150 people.

The court filing — which names U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) as the defendant — argues the federal government has advanced the project without conducting legally required environmental reviews or consultations with state and local authorities. It warns that allowing ongoing construction work at the site to proceed could lead to “potentially catastrophic” harm to the environment and public health.

The legal maneuver comes two weeks after county and state officials announced a lawsuit targeting the project located on rural, unincorporated county land near Gilroy. Revelations about the facility, first reported by San José Spotlight in May, have sent shockwaves throughout the Bay Area, fueling concerns that ICE may be laying the groundwork for more extensive immigration enforcement operations in the region.

“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,” Bonta said in a statement announcing the injunction Thursday. “Today, we’re asking the court to pause this development and ensure the interests of our communities are properly protected.”

The court has set an Oct. 7 hearing date to consider the injunction, though LoPresti said the county is exploring options to move that date up.

Representatives for ICE and the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

The 25-acre parcel, located at 7240 Holsclaw Road, is thought to contain hazardous materials due to its history of use for agricultural research. Given the risk development work at the site poses to the surrounding ecosystem, as well as to the agricultural value of land, the injunction asserts the federal government is legally required to conduct an environmental review before proceeding.

In addition, the complaint warns that the planned 20,0000 square-foot facility could overwhelm the area’s septic system, which was designed for much more limited use.

With visible construction work already taking place at the site, LoPresti said the federal government has blown past the environmental requirements, and also disregarded federal laws mandating consultations with state and local authorities.

“They haven’t done any of that,” LoPresti told San José Spotlight. “Instead, they have moved forward in secrecy and are trying to literally bulldoze their way to completion.”

An 111-page blueprint document, obtained by this news outlet, provides detailed plans for the site. The document, dated Sept. 17, 2025, outlines an ICE facility that includes detention areas, detainee processing areas, interview and holding rooms, spaces for mothers with infants, as well as office space. Certain pages of the document bear the logos for ICE and DHS.

County leaders who studied the blueprints said the facility appears to be designed to hold detainees before transporting them to larger detention centers.

ICE previously denied it had plans to create a facility at the location. But after San José Spotlight asked about the project blueprints, an agency spokesperson described the project as an “ICE office.” The official continued to deny the agency intends to build a detention facility at the location.

The lawsuit announced earlier this month names ICE, DHS and the property’s owner — an LLC belonging to development firm Elmwood Capital Group — as the defendants. In addition to the arguments advanced in the injunction, the lawsuit also contends the facility is unlawful because the land is zoned exclusively for agricultural uses.

The lawsuit is just one of several dozen brought by Bonta against the federal government, as part of a broader legal campaign that he has said is intended to end the mistreatment of detainees at ICE facilities across California.

Community organizers who have been monitoring the Holsclaw Road project applauded news of the injunction filing.

“The community takes comfort in knowing that we have such strong state and local officials that see the impact morally, environmentally and economically on our community and do what is necessary to stop it,” Rebeca Armendariz, a former Gilroy councilmember and organizer with the ICE OUT Coalition, told San José Spotlight. “We will continue to organize and push at every level to make this injunction permanent.”

Contact Keith Menconi at [email protected] or @KeithMenconi on X.