Silicon Valley lawmakers take stand against ICE violence

Silicon Valley lawmakers are speaking out against violence involving federal agents as the region prepares for potential conflict during the upcoming Super Bowl.

Reps. Zoe Lofgren and Sam Liccardo, San Jose Mayor Matt Mahan, Santa Clara County Sheriff Bob Jonsen and immigration advocates held a press conference Thursday, where they talked about potential immigration enforcement around the Feb. 8 sports event. Local leaders are preparing for known and unknown safety risks with the possibility of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents in the area, following heightened tensions after agent-involved shootings in Minneapolis, Minnesota.

To prevent ICE from doing further harm, Lofgren and Liccardo are calling for the agency to receive no additional taxpayer dollars as a spending bill makes its way through Congress. On Thursday, Senate lawmakers agreed to remove a bill to fund the Department of Homeland Security from the rest of the funding package as negotiations continue.

Liccardo and Lofgren are also calling for U.S. Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem to be impeached.

“We as a community demand accountability, and that means everyone from the bottom to the top requires investigation,” Liccardo said at the news conference.

While mass enforcement actions like the federal deployment in Minneapolis haven’t occurred in Santa Clara County, the region is already one of the most impacted areas for targeted ICE operations, according to Huy Tran, executive director of Services, Immigrant Rights and Education Network (SIREN). The organization is part of the Rapid Response Network, a group of volunteers that documents ICE activity, sends alerts to the community and provides free emergency legal support for immigrants.

Tran said the network’s hotline gets more than 120 calls on some days. In preparation for the Super Bowl, volunteers are providing the hotline number to businesses around Levi’s Stadium.

“The sheer volume of calls has long informed us that fear is rampant,” Tran said. “While there is fear, I also want to make clear that there is mobilization, there is anger and the willingness to fight.”

The Rapid Response Network has been ramping up its trainings and recruiting more legal observers. During the week of the Super Bowl, observers will be deployed around Levi’s Stadium to document potential ICE activity. Observers will also be inside the stadium during the game.

Despite a San Jose councilmember saying he’s seen internal documents showing dozens of ICE agents will enter the county days before the Super Bowl,  Socorro Montaño, lead dispatcher for the Rapid Response Network, said they haven’t received confirmation ICE will be present.

“What we do know is that this threat is not new, and so we don’t need to reinvent the wheel,” Montaño said at a separate news conference held Thursday. “What we know is that we need to stay ready so that we don’t have to get ready to protect our community. What we know is that if we maintain our strong presence all across Santa Clara County, we’ll be able to protect our community as much as possible.”

Sheriff Jonsen said he’s received no official information from the federal government or any agency that ICE will be present. As a sanctuary county, law enforcement does not collaborate with federal immigration agents.

“Because we have so much dedicated to the Super Bowl and the known activities, that variable (of ICE presence) is going to challenge us all,” Jonsen told San José Spotlight. “If ICE does come unannounced, that’s going to probably create more demonstrations, more protests, more activity. It’s going to probably require us to have to go to a mutual aid to expand beyond this county’s ability.”
San Jose Mayor Matt Mahan said there will be accountability if crime is committed in the city, whether the person is wearing a federal badge or not. The city has taken steps to limit ICE’s use of masks and city-owned properties for immigration enforcement.

“We know that the nation’s and the world’s eyes will be on us,” he said. “That means staying true to our values. San Jose is a welcoming city, city of immigrants, and the safest big city in the country because of the trust we have built between our local governments, our local law enforcement officers and this community that we serve.”

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