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Federal authorities have agreed to temporarily pause construction work on the apparent U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) facility taking shape in south Santa Clara County.
The delay is the product of a procedural agreement struck in the lawsuit brought last month by Santa Clara County and California to block the project. Under the agreement, filed Monday with the Court of the Northern District of California, federal attorneys said the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) will pause “construction and development activities” at the Holsclaw Road property until Sept. 9.
If approved by the court, the compromise measure grants DHS more time to respond to a recent injunction seeking an immediate halt to construction work on the 25-acre parcel of unincorporated Santa Clara County land just east of Gilroy.
In exchange, plaintiffs California Attorney General Rob Bonta and Santa Clara County are asking the court to advance the hearing date for the injunction to no later than Sept. 9. Previously the hearing had been set for Oct. 7. Such a timeline would have allowed work on the site to proceed for several more months before a court had the opportunity to weigh in.
Originally, DHS would have had to file its response to the injunction by Monday. The agreement grants the agency an extra month.
“This pause in the construction, demolition and development at the site of the challenged ICE facility is a significant step towards protecting our people, our communities and our environment while the case remains ongoing,” California Attorney General Rob Bonta said in a statement. “We will continue to vigorously litigate this case in court.”
State and county officials announced their lawsuit on June 10 arguing federal authorities have advanced the project at 7240 Holsclaw Road without conducting environmental reviews or consulting with state and local authorities, as required by law. It also maintains the facility violates zoning rules that reserve the property exclusively for agricultural uses.
Revelations about the facility, first reported by San José Spotlight in May, have sent shockwaves throughout the Bay Area, fueling concerns that ICE may be laying the groundwork for more extensive immigration enforcement operations in the region.
“Our lawsuit lays out the many ways the federal government and private property owner violated the law when they charged ahead with this project in secrecy,” Santa Clara County Counsel Tony LoPresti said in a statement. “Now that the cat’s out of the bag, we’re pleased that the defendants have agreed to halt construction in advance of the court’s hearing on our request for a preliminary injunction.”
Representatives for DHS did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
DHS has repeatedly denied any intention of creating a detention center at the location, with representatives previously saying the land will be used for an office facility. The claim contradicts detailed blueprints which bear the logos for ICE and DHS that include detainee processing areas, as well as interview and holding rooms.
This story was written by Keith Menconi for San José Spotlight. The original version of this article can be viewed here.
Contact Keith Menconi at keith@sanjosespotlight.com or @KeithMenconi on X.
