Local protest and state lawsuit against federal immigration facility in Gilroy
A protest was held outside an Amazon data center in Gilroy against federal plans for an Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) facility. Protesters highlighted Amazon's role in providing data services to companies that work with ICE. Separately, California and Santa Clara County have filed a joint lawsuit against the Trump administration over the proposed ICE facility.
A protest was held outside the Amazon data center in Gilroy on Saturday, opposing federal plans for an Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) facility nearby. Organizer Rebeca Armendariz of Santa Clara County's Community Agency for Resources, Advocacy and Services (CARAS) and Your Allied Rapid Response Network (YARR) emphasized the link between ICE and data centers, noting Amazon's provision of cloud and data storage services to tech companies that collaborate with ICE.
Armendariz specifically mentioned Amazon's partnership with Palantir, a company providing facial recognition software and AI tools for ICE operations. She expressed concerns about ICE's increased budget and potential efforts to reopen a former federal women's prison in Dublin as Northern California's first ICE detention center, warning of a widespread impact on communities from the Central Coast to the Bay Area. Concurrently, California Attorney General Rob Bonta and Santa Clara County filed a joint lawsuit against the Trump administration regarding the proposed ICE facility in Gilroy. Santa Clara County counsel Tony LoPresti stated that the lawsuit aims to counter the administration's actions against the immigrant community within the county and state.