Advocates campaigning against a planned ICE facility in South County are expressing disappointment after two nearby cities decided not to throw their support behind a lawsuit challenging the project. Multiple city and county governments across the Bay Area and beyond have signed onto an amicus brief in support of the case filed last month by Santa...
Silicon Valley immigration advocates say birthright fight isn’t over
For more than a year, immigrant families across Santa Clara County have wondered whether a constitutional right that’s existed for generations would disappear after a Supreme Court ruling. Tuesday’s decision brought relief to many, but advocates said the fight over birthright citizenship is far from over. The U.S. Supreme Court in a 6-3 ruling rejected...
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...
Santa Clara County to fund legal aid for Bay Area ICE detainees
Santa Clara County will be the first in the region to fund efforts to release every Bay Area resident unlawfully detained by ICE. County leaders are signing a roughly $200,000 agreement with La Raza Centro Legal, a nonprofit legal clinic based in San Francisco, to expand the Bay Area Habeas Network, whose attorneys work to...
Bay Area immigrants struggle with housing and healthcare
Lack of affordable housing and dwindling access to healthcare are the top issues plaguing the lives of both Bay Area immigrants and citizens, according to a recent report. Services, Immigration Rights and Education Network (SIREN) and the San Jose State University Human Rights Institute conducted a recent survey of about 300 immigrants and those in the...
Santa Clara County sues to stop planned ICE facility
Santa Clara County leaders and California Attorney General Rob Bonta are suing to stop the construction of an ICE facility near Gilroy, after this news outlet first reported on the federal government’s plans and obtained blueprints showing the building would hold and process detainees. Officials announced the lawsuit Wednesday, naming U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement...
Blueprints confirm ICE involvement in South County facility
Detailed blueprints show an ICE office with detention and processing space is planned in South Santa Clara County. The 111-page document obtained by this news outlet, dated Sept. 17, 2025, illustrates a future U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) facility with detention areas, detainee processing areas, interview and holding rooms, spaces for mothers with infants,...
Santa Clara County church commits funds to immigration defense
Faith leaders across Santa Clara County are committing money to immigration legal defense services as advocates warn families continue to face fear and uncertainty around detention and deportation. More than 120 donors across the Presbytery of San Jose are giving $15,000 to local immigration advocacy groups to support legal aid services for people facing deportation....
Santa Clara County officials denounce proposed detention center
Community leaders rallied at the seat of Santa Clara County government Thursday with a flurry of signs and one promise: No federal detention center will be built near Gilroy without a fight. It comes after San José Spotlight first reported on public records indicating a real estate firm in Beverly Hills — which has been...
Federal detention center planned in South County
Public records suggest the federal government plans to build a detention center in Santa Clara County, just 11 miles south of an ICE field office in Morgan Hill. The potential facility would be located at 7240 Holsclaw Road, an unincorporated area right outside Gilroy’s boundaries. Federal procurement records show the General Services Administration, which handles...