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HomeMy WebLinkAbout06 15 2026 - Item 9.4 - Julee Klein1 Stefan Mercer From:Julee Klein <julee.klein.7156@gmail.com> Sent:Monday, June 15, 2026 12:27 PM To:Council Member Zachary Hilton; Public Comments; Mayor Greg Bozzo; Council Member Dion Bracco; Council Member Tom Cline; Council Member Terence Fugazzi; Council Member Carol Marques; Council Member Kelly Ramirez Cc:Kim Mancera; Matt Morley Subject:Re: EXTERNAL - Public Comment for 6/15/26 City Council Meeting Councilmember Hilton et al - Please see the email thread below. In my initial letter, I failed to mention an important point: my daughter-in-law, whom I mentioned, and my son are residents of Gilroy. And while Councilmember Hilton takes issue with the facility being referred to as the "Gilroy Facility," this misnomer does not invalidate the value of the requests in my letter. In fact, it is all the more reason that the Gilroy City Council should join the amicus brief, vote in favor of a no-staging policy, and establish an emergency response plan. The City of Gilroy has no control over how the people of the Bay Area and the State of California will refer to this facility in such close proximity to the City of Gilroy. That is an unfortunate fact. BUT the City of Gilroy does have control over how its actions and response to this ICE facility will be perceived and remembered now and for years to come. Again, thank you for your consideration. Julee Klein Resident of Morgan Hill, CA On Mon, Jun 15, 2026 at 12:00 PM Julee Klein <julee.klein.7156@gmail.com> wrote: Dear Councilmember Hilton - I appreciate your response and see that now and appreciate you pointing out that “Gilroy Facility” does not help. That said, I respectfully request that you read beyond the first paragraph and consider the requests within my email. While the city of Gilroy does not have control over the facility itself. The city does have control over a decision to join the amicus brief, and voting in favor of a no-staging policy. I respectfully request that you consider the negative impact of an ICE facility in such close proximity to Gilroy has on our community. Thank you. Julee Klein 2 Sent from my iPhone using all thumbs On Jun 15, 2026, at 11:50 AM, Council Member Zachary Hilton <Zachary.Hilton@cityofgilroy.org> wrote: Thank you for the email Julee. I am proud that on June 1, 2026 the Gilroy City Council took action to pass a Resolution opposing the construction of a federal detention facility in South Santa Clara County, not the City of Gilroy. This unpermitted construction is incompatibility with the region's agricultural, tourism, economic development, planning goals, and community values. This piece of land where unpermitted construction is occurring is not located in the City of Gilroy. Calling it a Gilroy ICE facility and stating that an ICE detention and processing facility is being constructed in Gilroy is misleading to the community and doesn't help. It's located in unincorporated Santa Clara County, where the County has complete authority over land use and violations. The City of Gilroy has no shared authority with them and the City of Gilroy has no plans to extend the city borders out to where this property is located. Resolution is attached. I continue to be briefed on the actions of the County of Santa Clara and State of California. Thanks. Zach Hilton Gilroy City Council Member www.zachhilton.com #HiltonForCouncil @ZachHiltonGilroy From: Julee Klein <julee.klein.7156@gmail.com> Sent: Monday, June 15, 2026 10:45 AM To: Public Comments <Public.Comments@cityofgilroy.org>; Mayor Greg Bozzo <Greg.Bozzo@cityofgilroy.org>; Council Member Dion Bracco <Dion.Bracco@cityofgilroy.org>; Council Member Tom Cline <tom.cline@cityofgilroy.org>; Council Member Terence Fugazzi <Terence.Fugazzi@cityofgilroy.org>; Council Member Zachary Hilton <Zachary.Hilton@cityofgilroy.org>; Council Member Carol Marques <Carol.Marques@cityofgilroy.org>; Council Member Kelly Ramirez <kelly.ramirez@cityofgilroy.org> Cc: Kim Mancera <Kim.Mancera@cityofgilroy.org>; Matt Morley <Matt.Morley@cityofgilroy.org> Subject: EXTERNAL - Public Comment for 6/15/26 City Council Meeting Dear Mayor, Mayor Pro Tempore, and City Councilmembers, My name is Julee Klein, and I am a long-time resident of South County (Morgan Hill since 2004) and a small business owner serving other small businesses in Gilroy, San Martin, Morgan Hill, and CAUTION: This email originated from an External Source. Please use proper judgment and caution when opening attachments, clicking links, or responding to this email. 3 the surrounding area. Thank you for unanimously approving the resolution opposing the proposed ICE facility in Gilroy. City property should be used for City purposes — and I'm writing to ask you to build on your resolution with three 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. 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 San Jose and Santa Clara County models to strengthen Gilroy's existing protocols. This matters to me because my beautiful, talented daughter-in-law is a current legal green card holder. But I am afraid that is not enough to protect her from ICE's illegal actions of kidnapping, detaining, and terrorizing immigrants in our community. It took her 10 long, stressful months to legally renew her green card, and during that time, we were deeply concerned about her safety and that of others like her. She was put in a precarious situation where she could do nothing to speed the process, but for 10 long months, she was made bureaucratically "illegal" through no fault of her own. As long as there are for-profit concentration camps in our communities, our family members, friends, and neighbors will be targeted and stripped of due process, detained, and tortured. Allowing these for-profit camps to continue means that every immigrant in our community - legal or not - will have a price on their head and a team of ICE bounty hunters after them. It's cruel. It's inhumane. It is unconstitutional. I urge you to please do what is in your power to stop this reign of terror in our community. 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 up to $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. With respect and gratitude, Julee Klein Resident of Morgan Hill, CA 4 -- julee klein mobile: 408.205.7156 twitter: @JuleeAKlein | @JKMktg instagram: @JKMktg linkedin: linkedin.com/juleeklein website: https://www.juleekleinmarketing.com/ <Resolution No. 2026-34 _ Resolution Opposing a Federal Detention Facility in South Santa Clara County _ Adopted 05_18_2026.pdf> -- julee klein mobile: 408.205.7156 twitter: @JuleeAKlein | @JKMktg instagram: @JKMktg linkedin: linkedin.com/juleeklein website: https://www.juleekleinmarketing.com/