HomeMy WebLinkAbout07 27 2026 - Public Comment - Amy Van Gundy1
Stefan Mercer
From:Amy Van Gundy <amy.van.gundy@gmail.com>
Sent:Sunday, July 26, 2026 10:38 PM
To:Public Comments
Subject:EXTERNAL - Absolutely NO Holsclaw Road ICE facility
Dear Gilroy Mayor and City Council,
I am Gilroy born and raised, from Glen View Elementary, Brownell, and Gilroy High class of 2003. I teach
at Gavilan College in the ESL program where I am forever honored to work with our immigrant community
and help them in their language journey in the USA. I am absolutely shocked by the City of Gilroy's
decision to not join the lawsuit against the proposed ICE facility. While not technically in the city limits,
that is meaningless--it will forever be tagged in the media and publicly known as the Gilroy facility. This is
inescapable. and your silence in unacceptable.
In the Gilroy I was raised in we valued diversity. We supported our seasonal workers at the Ochoa
migrant camp. I was in the bilingual community kindergarten at Glen View Elementary and began to learn
Spanish at a young age. Our Hispanic community--both local and migrant--were parts of our community
and vital workers. While our immigrant community has grown and their status may or may not be with full
documentation, if they are contributing to our community, then they are a part of it and make Gilroy what
it is.
The dignity of ANY person should be violated in the ways that we are seeing with the violent and chaotic
ICE operations in the USA these days. Outside of immigrants with criminal charges, no immigrant who is
complying with legal requirements to change their status or in asylum hearings should live in fear of
being grabbed off the street, in a store, or the airport. They should not be thrown on planes and send to
remote detention centers with inadequate food or medical care. Immigration issues are NOT criminal
violations and should not be treated as such. Currently it is being documented that people in
immigration detention are being treated WORSE than regular prisoners. And it is WELL documented that
the VAST majority of people in these detention centers have NO criminal charges or history of violence. It
makes me sick to think of having such a symbol of injustice in MY childhood community and I will actively
fight this with everything I can.
As I and many others have written, we demand that you to immediately take the following actions:
1. Join the Legal Fight: Sign the multi-agency amicus brief to permanently block the Holsclaw Road ICE
facility.
2. Establish a “No-Staging” Policy: Ban ICE from using public parks, parking lots, or municipal buildings
as staging grounds.
3. Deny Infrastructure Support: Refuse to grant utility hookups or municipal aid to the Holsclaw Road
property.
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4. Strengthen Sanctuary Protections: Formally prohibit local police, city officials, and city funds from
assisting ICE.
To sit on our hands and let this travesty be built in our community is the ultimate betrayal of what I was
raised to value in Gilroy. If we are not fighting this with every tool at our disposal then we will be complicit
in all the harm that will result. This is like allowing a Japanese internment camp to be built in our city.
Everyone now shakes their head in amazement that that actually happened and agree that it was wrong
and unjust and went too far. This is our moment to actually learn from history and unite as a community
against this wrong.
Sincerely,
Amy Van Gundy