By admin 
California environmental groups this week asked a federal judge to stop the Trump administration from building a sprawling facility in Santa Clara County near Gilroy that state officials say will be used as an immigration detention center.
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The compound, to be built on land previously used for agriculture and research, would generate heavy traffic and disrupt habitat for migratory birds, mountain lions and other wildlife, the Center for Biological Diversity, Greenbelt Alliance, Santa Clara Valley bird alliance and others said in a brief filed Monday in federal court in San Jose.
“There are significant environmental impacts that will result from this project,” said Peter Broderick, an attorney with the Center for Biological Diversity. “They can’t just ignore that and plow ahead.”
If completed, the project would be one of several new immigration detention facilities developed or purchased by the administration in recent months, including two in California. It would be the ninth detention center in California, and third such complex to open in the state during President Donald Trump’s second term, according to previous Sacramento Bee reporting.
The federal government’s move to expand its detention capacity comes amid stepped-up efforts to arrest and deport immigrants who lack authority to be in the country. On Tuesday, the New York Times reported that Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents were arresting people with expired visas at domestic airports, even if they were married to U.S. citizens or in the process of obtaining legal status.
The Santa Clara project is already the subject of a by Santa Clara County and California Attorney General Rob Bonta, which alleges that ICE did not conduct environmental reviews as required by federal law. The state and the county have asked U.S. District Judge Eumi K. Lee to issue a preliminary injunction stopping it from moving forward while the case is adjudicated.
The environmental groups’ filing, known as an amicus or friend-of-the-court brief, looks more deeply at potential impacts of the project.
The property where it is to be built is in an area “already overburdened with pollution and environmental hazards” and has been designated a disadvantaged community by the California Environmental Protection Agency, the brief says. The property is in a community where water pollution and pesticide exposure are worse than in 95% of census tracts in the state, the brief says.
Even so, the property and the land around it are biologically and ecologically important, the environmental groups said. Nearby Llagas Creek offers riparian habitat and has been designated a major stream corridor. The creek has also been designated critical habitat for South-Central California Coast steelhead trout under the federal Endangered Species Act.
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Also near the property is critical habitat for protected species including the California red-legged frog and the California tiger salamander, the brief says. Less than a mile away, the area around the upper Pajaro River is part of the Pacific Flyway and considered an “important bird area” by the National Audubon Society, the brief says.
Other threatened, endangered or protected species in the vicinity include tricolored blackbirds, northwestern pond turtles and Central Coast and Southern California mountain lions, the brief says.
“Local and national environmental groups have weighed in loudly and clearly with deep concerns about the environmental impact of this project,” Broderick said.
The Trump administration has not detailed its plans for the new facility, other than to say it would be used to support ICE’s efforts in California and nationwide.
However, Bonta and Santa Clara County Counsel Tony Lopresti said in their motion for a preliminary injunction that the complex would be used as a detention center. ICE, which did not immediately respond to a request for comment from The Bee, referred to the compound in May as its new Gilroy office, the motion says.
In January 2025, the federal government’s General Services Administration leased the property for 20 years from its owner, a Beverly Hills company formed in 2020 called ECG 6, via a contract for $26.5 million, the motion says. The government began demolition and construction behind a privacy fence in April, it alleges.
For now, construction has been halted, Assistant U.S. Attorney Roman Swoopes said in a court document filed July 13. Owner ECG 6, which is also named as a defendant in the lawsuit, has agreed to hold off on the work until Sept. 9, the date that Lee plans to hold a hearing on the preliminary injunction, Swoopes said.
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