{"id":166894,"date":"2026-02-06T16:47:12","date_gmt":"2026-02-06T16:47:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/166894\/"},"modified":"2026-02-06T16:47:12","modified_gmt":"2026-02-06T16:47:12","slug":"san-jose-bans-ice-from-using-town-property","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/166894\/","title":{"rendered":"San Jose bans ICE from using town property"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>San Jose has banned Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) from using city property.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>The decision, which was passed by the San Jose City Council through an anonymous vote on Tuesday, January 13, is meant to prevent ICE from using San Jose\u2019s 11 garages and parking lots, as well as its 75 community centers and libraries.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>The move comes amidst heightened tensions between state and local governments, including the killings of <a href=\"https:\/\/apnews.com\/article\/ice-shooting-minneapolis-minnesota-9aa822670b705c89906f2c699f1d16c5\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\">Renee Good<\/a> and <a href=\"https:\/\/apnews.com\/article\/immigration-enforcement-minnesota-protester-alex-pretti-15ade7de6e19cb0291734e85dac763dc\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\">Alex Pretti<\/a> in Minneapolis. San Jose is also <a href=\"https:\/\/stanforddaily.com\/2026\/02\/05\/a-dazzling-super-bowl-opening-night-in-san-jose\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">bracing<\/a> for an influx of people with the upcoming Super Bowl on Sunday, and the World Cup matches taking place in San Francisco this summer.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>\u201cJust as we see the executive branch of our federal government expanding beyond its historical role to target our residents, so should we, in order to defend those we love and call our neighbors,\u201d said District 5 Councilmember David Ortiz at the council meeting.<\/p>\n<p>In conversations with The Daily, San Jose council members repeatedly emphasized ICE\u2019s overreach as a driving factor in passing the bill. \u201cICE has been in other cities terrorizing immigrants, whether they are citizens, legal residents, or undocumented,\u201d District 4 councilmember David Cohen wrote in an email to The Daily. \u201cWe will not cooperate with that behavior in our city.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cSome people call them ICE-free zones. But for me, every role of government \u2014 federal, state, and local \u2014 has their purview, and primary jurisdiction over their issues,\u201d District 8 Councilmember Domingo Candelas said in an interview with The Daily. \u201cAnd for us here in the city of San Jose, [any space] needs to be to serve the residents.\u201d In regards to resident safety, Candelas noted that San Jose has been <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nbcbayarea.com\/news\/local\/san-jose-safest-large-city\/3944670\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\">ranked<\/a> the safest city in the U.S.<\/p>\n<p>San Jose, whose population is <a href=\"https:\/\/www.sjpl.org\/blogs\/post\/celebrating-national-immigrant-heritage-month\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\">composed<\/a> of 40% immigrants, says that it is not <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nbcbayarea.com\/news\/local\/sj-city-leaders-no-ice-surge-super-bowl\/4024029\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\">expecting<\/a> a surge in ICE activity leading up to the Super Bowl. Bay Area residents \u2014 who recently <a href=\"https:\/\/stanforddaily.com\/2026\/02\/02\/hundreds-of-students-protest-ice\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">hosted<\/a> a series of protests against ICE involvement \u2014 have expressed skepticism towards this supposed refrain.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThere\u2019s still that legitimate fear. But one thing for sure is [that] our police officers are not going to be assisting with federal enforcement, federal immigration jobs or the job of the federal government,\u201d Candelas said. \u201cOur police officers are here to protect our community and make sure that we are enforcing the law and protecting our residents.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Both Cohen and Candelas emphasized how dealing with ICE is more than just a matter of fighting law enforcement with law enforcement.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe specific mechanics of interfering with a federal activity is complex and we hope that federal agents would follow local rules regarding use of property,\u201d Cohen said.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe are doing everything we can at the local level to put those guardrails in, whether it\u2019s in the courts or through our policies,\u201d Candelas said.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Despite the policy, members of the City Council have noted that they won\u2019t actively prevent ICE from carrying out their duties, citing the supremacy clause of the U.S. Constitution. However, they noted that they were taking other steps to keep San Jose safe from ICE.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThere\u2019s things that we\u2019re doing because of this policy. There\u2019s clear signage that\u2019s posted in all locations.\u2029[There\u2019s] access-restricting measures, like gates, where appropriate. And additionally, we\u2019re making sure that all our city employees are required to report any ICE-related activity that happens on city property,\u201d said Candelas.\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"San Jose has banned Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) from using city property.\u00a0 The decision, which was passed&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":166895,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[29],"tags":[1610,2871,14,972,47556,3607,88,90,89,11730],"class_list":{"0":"post-166894","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-san-jose","8":"tag-city-council","9":"tag-ice","10":"tag-immigration","11":"tag-local","12":"tag-minneapolis","13":"tag-safety","14":"tag-san-jose","15":"tag-san-jose-headlines","16":"tag-san-jose-news","17":"tag-super-bowl"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/166894","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=166894"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/166894\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/166895"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=166894"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=166894"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=166894"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}