HomeMy WebLinkAbout06 15 2026 - Item 9.4 - Monica Teicher1
Stefan Mercer
From:Monica Teicher <monicateicher@gmail.com>
Sent:Friday, June 12, 2026 5:19 PM
To:Public Comments; Mayor Greg Bozzo; Council Member Dion Bracco; Council Member
Tom Cline; Council Member Terence Fugazzi; Council Member Zachary Hilton; Council
Member Carol Marques; Council Member Kelly Ramirez
Cc:Kim Mancera; Matt Morley
Subject:EXTERNAL - Public Comment: Amicus Brief, No Staging Policy, Emergency Plan
Dear Mayor, Mayor Pro Tempore, and City Councilmembers,
My name is Monica Teicher, I live in Mountain View, CA, and am an active volunteer for our schools
and community at large. I appreciate all your work in advancing protections for all people in the area. I
have emailed you before in opposition to the proposed ICE facility in Gilroy and thank you for passing
this resolution regarding this issue. I wholeheartedly believe City property should be used solely for City
purposes — and I'm writing to ask you to support three concrete protections. I am advocating to every
city council in the vicinity to help implement homogeneous protections for their residents, so we can
present a united front, now that ICE has started ramping up its operations in the area. We have seen
increased, targeted presence and enforcement.
1. Before the end of June, join the amicus brief being filed by the County of Monterey with the Public
Rights Project. The brief supports the lawsuit filed jointly by Santa Clara County and the California
Attorney General on June 10. The counties of Monterey and Alameda and the cities of San Jose and
Alameda have already signed on, with more in process. Gilroy belongs in this coalition.
2. Agendize a "No-Staging Zone" policy for your next Council meeting, prohibiting the use of City
property — parking lots, parks, and other City-owned or City-controlled land — for civil immigration
enforcement staging and operations. Gilroy can move quickly, as Campbell, Sunnyvale, and Mountain
View did (we're hoping to get the no staging policy passed in June 23rd!), by adapting the policies
adopted by San Jose (1/13/26) and Santa Clara (2/3/26). These were developed with thorough review
by County Counsel and the San Jose City Attorney, and have also been adopted by VTA and the
Counties of Santa Clara, Santa Cruz, San Mateo, San Francisco, and Alameda. Gilroy can benefit from
that legal groundwork.
3. Establish an emergency response plan so the City is prepared to protect public safety and support
residents in the event of a large-scale enforcement operation, using the San Jose and Santa Clara
County models to strengthen Gilroy's existing protocols.
This matters to me because, as an immigrant whose grandfather was incarcerated in a concentration
camp in Colombia, I know firsthand that we can't tolerate any injustice and violation of our constitutional
rights. I know that ICE is violating due process, and it infuriates me to no end that the Geo Group is
profiting from human suffering and modern-day slavery. We can't tolerate our taxpayer dollars directly
funding human suffering.
Beyond the immense human cost — families torn apart, children losing parents, neighbors living in fear
— these protections matter for our economy as well as our safety. A March 2026 report from the Bay
Area Council Economic Institute found that mass deportation could reduce regional economic output by
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as much as $67 billion annually. All of our businesses depend on workers and customers who are
being driven away by fear and detention. Our FIFA tourism is suffering from fear and the uncertainty
generated by ICE enforcement. We know Latinos are being targeted, and they are one of the most
fervent soccer fans worldwide.
The Bay Area is a vibrant community of immigrants, many of whom are farmworkers who feed our
country. We need to support them and protect our diverse population. Thank you for your leadership
and for taking these next steps for the safety and well-being of our community.
Respectfully,
Monica Teicher, mom, volunteer, AVID mentor, MVLA scholar mentor, CERT co-lead in Mountain View,
Rapid Response Network legal observer; radicalized by human decency
p.s. Not too enthused by the Data Center either...