HomeMy WebLinkAbout06 15 2026 - Item 9.4 - Kim Woo1
Stefan Mercer
From:Kim Woo <kimberly@sirenimmigrantrights.org>
Sent:Monday, June 15, 2026 12:33 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 - Agenda Item 3.2 Public Comment: Amicus Brief, No Staging Policy,
Emergency Plan
Dear Mayor, Mayor Pro Tempore, and City Councilmembers,
My name is Kimberly Woo, and I am a Community Organizer for Services, Immigrant Rights and Education
Network (SIREN). For over twenty-five years, SIREN has provided civic education, community information, and
legal assistance for our immigrant and refugee communities in the Bay Area across Santa Clara and San
Mateo counties and in the Central Valley across Fresno and Madera counties. We have partnered with local
organizations like CARAS to serve and empower our communities for immigrant justice, and we thank you for
unanimously approving the resolution opposing the proposed ICE facility on unincorporated County land near
Gilroy. I'm writing to ask you to build on your resolution with three actions 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.
Recently, DHS and ICE have threatened to open a harmful processing center in Gilroy and a detention
center in Dublin of the Bay Area. More detention space in the Bay Area will mean more ICE enforcement and
mass family separations in our communities. The Bay Area has not seen the kind of mass ICE arrests in the
Central Valley and Southern California, partly because ICE does not have the beds to hold people close by.
One study discovered that immigrants are more than twice as likely to be apprehended in a county with
capacity to detain more than 50 people in ICE custody than in a county that has less or no immigration
detention capacity. Communities and local governments must collaborate to establish an emergency response
plan to prioritize the safety, dignity, and due process of all our residents because together, we are the ones
who can keep us safe.
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With these imminent threats of immigration detention and increased enforcement activity, our local
government and police departments must protect our communities from federal invasion, instead of
contributing to more kidnappings of our loved ones. When local police departments actively stand against
ICE’s unconstitutional actions, protect our local property from being monopolized by ICE agents, and refuse to
cooperate with federal immigration enforcement, residents feel safer in their neighborhoods, and communities
grow stronger together. Our tax-funded public property belongs to the people who live here, not to the agents
terrorizing them.
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. Thank you for your leadership, and
for taking these next steps for the safety and well-being of our community.
Respectfully,
KIMBERLY WOO
Community Organizer
(408) 217-5134 | kimberly@sirenimmigrantrights.org
1769 Park Ave., Suite 200, San Jose, CA 95126
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linktr.ee/sirenimmigrantrights