{"id":341510,"date":"2026-06-01T15:24:34","date_gmt":"2026-06-01T15:24:34","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/341510\/"},"modified":"2026-06-01T15:24:34","modified_gmt":"2026-06-01T15:24:34","slug":"408-hates-ice-bay-area-protesters-rally-against-planned-gilroy-detention-center-the-press-democrat","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/341510\/","title":{"rendered":"\u2018408 hates ICE\u2019: Bay Area protesters rally against planned Gilroy detention center \u2013 The Press Democrat"},"content":{"rendered":"

As the federal government\u2019s immigration crackdown moves closer to the Bay Area, about 100 people gathered Saturday afternoon at the Mexican Heritage Plaza in East San Jose to protest plans to build a detention center in Gilroy.<\/p>\n

In May, reports revealed plans for an ICE facility on unincorporated land in southern Santa Clara County<\/a>. Local leaders vowed to push back against the construction of the facility, claiming it violates county zoning laws, which ban building such installations on that land.<\/p>\n

At around 3 p.m., demonstrators carrying signs that read \u201cMelt ICE,\u201d \u201cImmigrants Make America Great,\u201d and \u201c408 hates ICE. Stay out of our community\u201d filled the plaza, as passing motorists honked their horns in a show of solidarity with the protest.<\/p>\n

They expressed concern over what the facility signals, especially for the Bay Area\u2019s large immigrant population. While some immigration-related arrests have occurred in the region, it has so far avoided the large-scale federal \u201csurges\u201d that have affected other major metropolitan areas like Minneapolis and Los Angeles.<\/p>\n

The protest comes days after Gilroy residents<\/a> met with local leaders to express fear over the planned facility.<\/p>\n

In that forum, many cited reports of violent immigration arrests and killings, fearing similar scenarios might play out here. While local leaders acknowledged limited power to resist federal government plans, they promised to fight back and support the local immigrant population.<\/p>\n

Saturday\u2019s protest was organized by groups such as San Jose Against War, the Democratic Socialists of America, Community Service Organization San Jose, and the Community Agency for Resources, Advocacy & Services.<\/p>\n

Rosa Barradas, a 24-year-old Gilroy educator, spoke with this news organization before the group began to march. She said her role as a teacher for students of color, many of whom are Latino, combined with her own experience as a first-generation student, drives her sense of duty to protest the administration\u2019s actions against immigrants.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf we don\u2019t speak out, we\u2019re just working with the system,\u201d Barradas said. \u201cImmigrants are not criminals.\u201d<\/p>\n

She said she was heartbroken when she heard about plans to build an ICE detention center in Gilroy and her students are worried about what it would mean for themselves and their families.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe come here because we want a better life,\u201d Barradas said.<\/p>\n

Raymond Goins, a 45-year-old San Jose resident, said he was attending the protest Saturday to speak out against federal law enforcement expansion in the Bay Area.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf we allow the detention center to be built in Gilroy, it sets up the precedent for federal agents to raid us and deport our residents that have paid their taxes and contributed to our society,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Goins said the turnout Saturday reflected a sense of unity and\u00a0hoped the protest would serve as a path forward for change and empowering communities of color, especially.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s a unified echo that the community stands with our immigrant community,\u201d he said. \u201cIt\u2019s a portrait of humanity of what we want our America to look like, not what our President wants America to look like.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"As the federal government\u2019s immigration crackdown moves closer to the Bay Area, about 100 people gathered Saturday afternoon…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":341511,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[29],"tags":[6036,139950,139949,139948,139942,139941,139947,47394,139944,88,97174,90,139940,139946,89,139943,139945],"class_list":["post-341510","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-san-jose","tag-bay-area-news","tag-caras-gilroy","tag-community-service-organization-san-jose","tag-democratic-socialists-of-america-san-jose","tag-gilroy-facility-protest","tag-gilroy-ice-detention-center","tag-ice-detentions-california","tag-immigration-crackdown","tag-mexican-heritage-plaza-demonstration","tag-san-jose","tag-san-jose-against-war","tag-san-jose-headlines","tag-san-jose-ice-protest","tag-san-jose-local-news","tag-san-jose-news","tag-santa-clara-county-immigration-protest","tag-south-bay-immigration-rally"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/341510","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=341510"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/341510\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/341511"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=341510"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=341510"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=341510"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}