Santa Clara County jails see influx of ICE agents

Santa Clara County officials are standing back while the presence of federal agents escalates around county jails, even after the county declared its properties off limits to immigration officers.

On Wednesday at about 10 p.m., Rapid Response Network volunteers confirmed U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents had pursued a car leaving Elmwood Correctional Facility carrying two men just released from jail.  Agents pursued the men on foot after they ran out of the car and used a Taser on one of them, according to an observer on the scene. Video from the incident shows the man slumped on the ground, with an agent holding him up by his upper body. He was transported to Regional Medical Center in East San Jose and was released later that morning, according to observers. He left without further incident.

ICE observers said this is the first local incident they’re aware of involving federal agents using a Taser.

“In San Jose, we haven’t seen the most aggressive behavior, the deadliest behavior, but this is an escalation,” Liz Gonzalez, an organizer with law enforcement watchdog Silicon Valley De-Bug who was present the night of the arrest, told San José Spotlight. “Anything could have happened that night, and honestly, I thought that person was dead.”

Last October, the Santa Clara County Board of Supervisors voted unanimously to establish ICE-free zones on its property. That includes raising physical barriers and locking gates to prevent federal immigration agents from unlawfully using county properties for surveillance and arrests.

Yet advocates said there is an increasing number of ICE agents who have been allowed to stage at Elmwood in Milpitas and the Main Jail in San Jose. They said about 10 to 12 agents have been seen at the jails everyday for the past week — standing inside the lobbies, waiting in parking lots and driving around county offices.

Brooks Jarosz, spokesperson for the Santa Clara County Sheriff’s Office, said the department cannot interfere with another law enforcement agency despite the county’s ICE-free zones.

“ICE agents, like any member of the public, may legally be present in publicly accessible areas of our facilities,” Jarosz told San José Spotlight.

About 70 people have been detained by federal agents near county jails since June 2025, according to information provided by the sheriff’s office.

“Their ICE free-zones (don’t) mean anything,” Raj Jayadev, co-founder of Silicon Valley De-Bug, told San José Spotlight. “It’s just a complete fantasy to score political points (and) has no application.”

District 1 Supervisor Sylvia Arenas, who spearheaded the policy to prohibit ICE from using county facilities, said the law applies to property not accessible to the public, such as staff parking lots. However, the jail lobby and public parking lots don’t pertain to the county law, she said. When she found out ICE was using staff parking lots, she contacted the sheriff’s office who forced them to move.

“They are making some discretionary decisions that seem to not abide by our rules, and so when they don’t, we are informing those folks,” Arenas told San José Spotlight. “I’m very concerned that a Taser had to be utilized in this apprehension, and I really hope that this is not a new standard for the ICE agents in our area.”

Jayadev wants to see the county enforce its ICE-free zones as Monterey County has, which also banned ICE from using county properties earlier this year.

When ICE agents came to the Monterey County Jail on Tuesday, officials announced a lockdown prohibiting visitors from coming inside and incarcerated people from being released. Protesters circled the federal immigration agents, who left not long after. Monterey County lifted the lockdown hours later.

Jarosz said Santa Clara County doesn’t plan to lock down the jails, but sheriff officials are reviewing security measures. Arenas said she would consult with local law enforcement and county counsel to see if there are other policies they can implement to protect the community.

“(The lockdown is) creative, it’s interesting, it’s different,” Arenas said. “I don’t know what the ramifications of that are. (ICE agents) could have stayed there. Then who is going to win? Are they going to increase (enforcement)? Are we upping the ante here and creating a more hostile environment?”

County Executive James Williams did not answer questions about why ICE is allowed on county property or what officials will do to enforce their policies.

“The county continues to uphold its longstanding non-cooperation policies regarding federal civil immigration enforcement,” Williams told San José Spotlight.  “We cannot and will not cooperate with or assist ICE in its enforcement operations.”

Advocates are disappointed by the lack of teeth the county’s anti-ICE policies have had, especially when it comes to allowing agents to step inside county jails.

“I think incarcerated immigrants have the least political capital and thus the least value to these elected officials,” Jayadev said. “I think (county officials are) picking their battles, and they’re like, ‘Okay, this is not the one we want to poke the bear on.'”

Rebeca Armendariz, a legal observer for the Santa Clara County Rapid Response Network that documents ICE activity and provides emergency legal aid, said calls to the network’s hotline have surged in recent weeks. While mass immigration enforcement actions like past federal deployments in Los Angeles and Minneapolis, Minnesota haven’t occurred in Santa Clara County, the region is one of the most impacted areas for targeted ICE operations, according to the Services, Immigrant Rights and Education Network.

Agents appear to be racially profiling anyone they see, Armendariz said, emboldened by the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision allowing ethnicity to be used as a criteria to question individuals. Some have stopped even Latino county employees wearing badges, she said.

“I think we need to meet (ICE) with the same energy,” Armendariz told San José Spotlight. “We have hundreds of rapid responders. We’ve got dozens of advocacy (groups) that are showing up for folks. We are using all of our resources and spirit of allyship to show up for folks. And we expect the county to also pull out all the stops to defend all of our residents.”

Contact Joyce Chu at [email protected] or @joyce_speaks on X.