HomeMy WebLinkAbout06 15 2026 - Item 9.4 - Doug Yoshida1
Stefan Mercer
From:Doug Yoshida <yoshid@gmail.com>
Sent:Sunday, June 14, 2026 9:12 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 Douglas Yoshida MD and I am a Physician at Tri-Valley Medical Center in
Pleasanton. Thank you for unanimously approving the resolution opposing the proposed ICE
facility in Gilroy. I'm writing to ask you to build on your resolution with three ac tions to provide
concrete protections.
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. City property should be used for City and
community purposes. Gilroy can move quickly, as Campbell, Sunnyvale, and Mountain View did,
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 benefits 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 models from the
City of San Jose and Santa Clara County to strengthen Gilroy's existing protocols.
This matters to me because I am not only a physician but the son of a Japanese- American man
who at age 15 was incarcerated by Roosevelt during World War II under the guise of the same
Alien Enemies Act that the current administration has used to round up, arre st and deport
hundreds of thousand of immigrants in the last year- without due process. We now recognize
that the illegal arrest of over 125,000 Japanese-Americans is one of the greatest civil rights
violations in modern American history.
As I mentioned in a previous letter, 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
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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: conve rsations 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.
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 as much as $67 billion annually. Gilroy's businesses depend on workers
and customers who will be driven away by fear and detention.
Gilroy has been built by diverse immigrant and farmworker communities.
Ironically, the US Army that arrested my father as a child, later drafted him. He, like so many
others, proved his loyalty by serving. As his child I am honoring him by speaking out against a
growing dictatorship and I am urging you to show your patriotism by adopt ing the above
measures. Thank you for your leadership, and for taking these next steps for the safety and well-
being of our community.
Respectfully,
Douglas Yoshida MD