In today's newscast:
Rally outside the Amazon data center in Gilroy tomorrow
Protestors will rally outside the Amazon data center in Gilroy tomorrow afternoon against federal plans for an Immigration and Customs Enforcement facility nearby.
Rebeca Armendariz previously helped organize the No Kings protest. She is connected to Santa Clara County's Community Agency for Resources, Advocacy and Services (CARAS) and the local Your Allied Rapid Response Network (YARR).
"We want folks to remember the connection between ICE and data centers," said Armendariz, who adds Amazon provides cloud and data storage services to tech companies that work with ICE.
These companies have provided facial recognition software and AI tools to identify potential targets for ICE arrests and deportations. For example, Armendariz says Amazon has partnered with tech company Palantir and more funding has emboldened the agency.
"ICE now has an extremely large budget to hire and to build more infrastructure," said Armendariz. She also warns attempts to reopen a former federal women’s prison in Dublin, as Northern California’s first ICE detention center, could make it easier to carry out raids.
"From the Central Coast to the Bay Area, having a processing center and having a detention center so nearby is gonna impact all of us. None of our communities is safe," she said. "So we need to push back and fight back everywhere from Dublin to Gilroy to the whole state and across the country.”
California and Santa Clara County also fight back
California Attorney General Rob Bonta and Santa Clara County have filed a joint lawsuit against the Trump administration over the proposed ICE facility in Gilroy.
Santa Clara County counsel Tony LoPresti spoke at a press conference on Wednesday.
"Our suit sends a simple message: in this county and in this state, the law doesn’t yield to the Trump Administration’s crusade against the immigrant community," he said.
