HomeMy WebLinkAbout07 27 2026 - Public Comment - Mila Bekele1
Stefan Mercer
From:Mila B. <mandmbekele@gmail.com>
Sent:Monday, July 27, 2026 12:25 PM
To:Public Comments
Subject:EXTERNAL - Join the lawsuit to stop the Holsclaw Road ICE facility. Protect Gilroy's
communities!
Dear Mayor and City Councilmembers,
My name is Mila, and I am a public health student and resident of Santa Clara County, born and
raised in San Jose. I am writing with immense concern and anger over the proposed ICE facility on
Holsclaw Road, which would have devastating impacts on communities across Northern California.
Two decades ago, my cousin, a sixteen-year-old high school living in San Jose who had fled his home
country, was arrested and detained by ICE for missing an immigration paper that had been
misdelivered. For months, he was incarcerated in the Central Valley , before eventually being deported
back to the civil war he had fled. This is what ICE does, before the Trump administration and for as
long as it is allowed to operate afterwards: target immigrants who contribute to our communities,
sowing distrust and trauma in their wake.
Understand that this proposed facility would only offer more capacity to this unjust agency.
Neighbors who are now safe and beloved in their NorCal communities would be arrested to fill spots
in this new facility -- if we allow it to be built.
I echo community demands that the City of Gilroy take immediate, binding action to protect our
community from the planned federal Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) facility on
Holsclaw Road.
Passing a symbolic resolution is not enough to actually take a stand against ICE. Santa Clara County,
the California Attorney General, and neighboring cities like my home city of San Jose have taken bold
legal action to stop this facility. Gilroy’s refusal to join the lawsuit by signing the multi-agency amicus
brief is unacceptable.
To fulfill our collective responsibility to keep our communities safe and keep ICE out of Northern
California, I demand the Gilroy City Council:
1. Sign the multi-agency amicus brief to permanently block the Holsclaw Road ICE facility.
2. Establish a “No-Staging” Policy to ban ICE from using public parks, parking lots, or municipal
buildings as staging grounds.
3. Refuse to grant utility hookups or municipal aid to the Holsclaw Road property.
4. Formally prohibit local police, city officials, and city funds from assisting ICE.
Your decision will impact thousands of lives across our region. I ask that you stand up to this moment.
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Sincerely,
Mila B, San Jose Resident