San José Spotlight investigation reveals DHS and ICE secretly built Gilroy-area ICE detention facility without required environmental review

San José Spotlight reported on May 13, 2026, that the Department of Homeland Security and Immigration and Customs Enforcement had secretly built a detention and processing facility near Gilroy, California, without the environmental review, local coordination, or public notice federal law requires. A private developer -- ECG 6 LLC, a subsidiary of Beverly Hills-based Elmwood Capital Group -- had leased the 24-acre agricultural parcel at 7240 Holsclaw Road in unincorporated Santa Clara County to the federal government in January 2025, for a 15-year term (plus a five-year option) worth $26.5 million, before DHS and ICE developed the site into the facility without disclosing the plan to Santa Clara County or the public.

Local officials and reporters did not learn of the project through any government disclosure. San José Spotlight first reported in May 2026 that federal procurement and property records showed a detention facility being built at the site, with construction crews already clearing greenhouses and erecting security fencing. The outlet later obtained 111 pages of blueprints, dated September 17, 2025, detailing holding cells, detainee processing areas, interview rooms, and an armory, with planned capacity for roughly 60 employees and up to 150 detainees. County officials said the only prior communication they had received about the site was a 2023 memo describing it only as "office and operations space," with no mention of detention.

The site sits on land protected for agricultural use since California's Williamson Act passed in the 1960s, and county officials said the project proceeded without the environmental review, zoning compliance, or public and local-government input that federal and state law require for a project of this kind.

Updates

2026-06-10 — California and Santa Clara County sued over the project [4]

California Attorney General Rob Bonta and Santa Clara County filed suit in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California, seeking to permanently enjoin construction and alleging violations of the National Environmental Policy Act, the Immigration and Nationality Act, the Intergovernmental Cooperation Act, the Administrative Procedure Act, and California's Williamson Act. Bonta's office said the federal government "proceeded with a plan to quickly and surreptitiously develop" the facility.

2026-09-12 — Federal judge granted a preliminary injunction pausing construction [5, 6]

A federal judge granted a preliminary injunction temporarily blocking further construction while the lawsuit proceeds. A final resolution was not expected until October 2026.