Judge Extends Halt to New ICE Facility Outside Gilroy, for Now
Santa Clara County residents fighting the construction of a new immigration holding facility breathed a sigh of relief after a federal judge extended a halt to the project Tuesday, while she considers a potentially longer pause.
The county and California sued in June to stop the development and operation of a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement facility in an unincorporated area outside of Gilroy, which they claim is not a suitable location and is likely contaminated with hazardous waste.
Attorneys for ICE argued that the project is exempt from further environmental review because plans for the site as an office building — with a holding area for detained people — would not be “materially different” from its prior use by agricultural research companies.
But U.S. District Judge Eumi K. Lee seemed skeptical during the court hearing in San José on Tuesday. Outside of the courthouse, dozens of people protested the planned project.
“Tell me how a change from agricultural research to immigration offices and detention is not a change in use,” Lee told U.S. Department of Justice attorney Krystal-Rose Perez at one point. “An office versus a detention center or holding center are very different things.”
In a tentative ruling last week, Lee said the state and county were likely to succeed in their charge that ICE and other federal agencies violated laws that require assessing environmental consequences and considering state and local viewpoints before approving a project.
The county claims development of the proposed 18,700-square-foot facility, which could hold up to 150 detainees, would overwhelm an existing septic system and disturb toxic fungicides and carcinogenic materials, posing a danger for workers and any future detainees. DOJ attorneys called that characterization overblown, arguing that only about 10 immigrants would be detained at any time there.
“Even though we don’t have a final ruling yet from the court, the signs that we heard today in the hearing are incredibly encouraging,” Santa Clara County Counsel Tony LoPresti said, speaking to reporters afterward. “This is the wrong place for this facility. This should have never been proposed here, and it should certainly not proceed here.”
In May, the government started demolition at 7240 Holsclaw Rd. to renovate existing structures into an ICE office with a short-term holding area, according to court documents.
“Plaintiffs’ speculation that ICE will overload the septic system at the site by holding 150 detainees, 24 hours a day, plus 60 staff members, lacks support,” government attorneys wrote in an opposition brief.
The brief continues later: “If the Gilroy project is delayed, ICE would have to rely on existing facilities that are farther away and already support other operational needs. Delaying the Gilroy project would also place a significant burden on individuals in removal proceedings who are out of custody and have reporting requirements with ICE.”
A spokesperson for the Department of Homeland Security, which oversees ICE, said that the agency has more than doubled its workforce and needs additional space. The agency maintains that its current offices about 10 miles north of Gilroy in Morgan Hill are insufficient, while the property’s lease is expiring soon.
“Is it really news that when a federal agency hires more personnel that they need more space? Thanks to the Big Beautiful Bill, we have an additional 12,000 ICE officers and agents on the ground across the country,” the DHS spokesperson said in a statement. “That’s a 120% increase in our workforce.”
Construction on the facility had been paused as part of a voluntary agreement between the parties. Lee said she will continue a stay on the project until at least Sept. 15. If she then issues a preliminary injunction, as requested by the county, construction would be temporarily blocked. A final resolution on the case is not expected until after a hearing in October.
The dispute comes as ICE races to expand its detention capacity, after Congress approved $115 billion for immigration enforcement nationwide since July 2025. The Trump administration has increasingly locked up more immigrants fighting deportation, holding more than 65,000 at more than 200 facilities across the country, according to ICE’s latest figures.