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HomeMy WebLinkAbout06 01 2026 - Item 7.9 - Doug Yoshida1 Stefan Mercer From:Doug Yoshida <yoshid@gmail.com> Sent:Friday, May 29, 2026 8:09 PM To:Public Comments Subject:EXTERNAL - Re: Resolution to oppose an ICE facility in Gilroy Dear Gilroy City Council: My name is Douglas Yoshida. I am a physician at Stanford Tri-Valley Medical Center in Pleasanton. I write to you today not only as a physician, but as the son of a Japanese American man who was imprisoned by his own government. I strongly support the proposed resolution to oppose the possible ICE detention facility in Gilroy. I also urge you to agendize a “No staging” policy for June 15 to provide concrete protections for the community by prohibiting the use of city property for civil immigration enforcement. In 1942, when my father was 15 years old, he, his family, and his entire community were given 48 hours to gather only what they could carry. The United States Army transported them to the horse stables at a racetrack in San Bruno—a facility reeking of manure, where they slept on hay mattresses. They were then transferred to a prison camp in the Utah desert. This happened because President Roosevelt invoked the Alien Enemies Act to incarcerate over 125,000 Japanese Americans without due process. We now know this was one of the gravest violations of civil liberties in modern American history. Today, invoking the specter of foreign invasion, the Trump administration has resurrected that same Alien Enemies Act to conduct mass roundups, detentions, and deportations—including of United States citizens—without due process. The parallels to 1942 are not incidental. They are a direct repetition of a policy our nation has already recognized as a moral failure. As you may know the administration has proposed converting the former federal correctional institute (FCI) in Dublin CA into an ICE detention facility. The FCI was closed in 2024 following the discovery that staff—including the warden—had systematically sexually abused inmates. I provided care to some of these women. That legacy of institutional abuse cannot be permitted to continue under any new name or contractor. Beyond its history of misconduct, the physical facility itself is unfit for human habitation: conversations with former guards have confirmed the presence of mold, asbestos contamination, and leaking pipes throughout the building. Gilroy is in the process of demolition to potentially construct a holding facility, which can be used as a “feeder” facility where local immigrants can be rounded up and shipped an hour away to the proposed 1000 bed prison in Dublin. Research consistently shows that when ICE detention facilities are established, local residents face arrest rates up to sixteen times higher than in comparable communities without such facilities. The economic consequences would be significant—but the human cost is greater still. The people who would be swept up in these operations are not abstractions. They are our neighbors, our friends, our coworkers, and members of our community who are being terrorized by their own government. That is why it is equally important to pass a “no staging’ policy . Our tax-funded public property belongs to the people who live here, not to the agents terrorizing them. I believe our tax dollars should CAUTION: This email originated from an External Source. Please use proper judgment and caution when opening attachments, clicking links, or responding to this email. 2 strengthen schools, hospitals, and safe neighborhoods - not tear our families apart. I do not want any City-owned or City-controlled property, such as public parks, public school grounds, and public parking lots, to be used as a staging ground for immigration enforcement activity. I urge the City Council to prohibit the use of city property, land, and resources to facilitate immigration staging, surveillance, arrests, detentions, or deportations. About a year after my father was released from detention, the same Army that had imprisoned him at 15 drafted him into military service. He served. He proved his loyalty to a country that had stripped him of his rights. Now, as his son, I am honoring his m emory by refusing to remain silent while history repeats itself. I call on each member of this council to demonstrate that same patriotism—not through silence or acquiescence, but through the courageous act of standing against policies that repeat the worst chapters of our past. Please sign the resolution opposing the ICE facility in Gilroy and adopt a non cooperation policy to forbid any city resources to be used for ICE enforcement. Respectfully submitted, Douglas Yoshida, MD Emergency Physician, Stanford Tri-Valley Medical Center