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This spring, my wife Silvia and I traveled down to the Otay Mesa Detention Center down in Southern California.
We weren’t allowed inside, but nonetheless, we heard the sounds of people in fear.
We could hear their screams for help from the outside. We witnessed the lack of windows, the heat and the desolation of the surrounding area, and we read their stories.
Stories of individuals being held indefinitely without knowing when they’d have their day in court. Stories about inconsistent access to health care and food. Stories about being separated from family members, jobs and homes.
Around that same time, a California DOJ report came out that spoke for those who couldn’t — detailing the heartbreaking and alarming increase in deaths within detention and custodial facilities in California.
Whatever your opinion of ICE and the current Federal Administration — we have a moral responsibility to ensure that people in custody in the United States are treated like human beings.
I believe we ought to maintain a secure border. I also believe that undocumented immigrants who commit violent crimes ought to be deported. But no one deserves to lose their life because they went searching for a better one. Coming to this country, even illegally, should not be a death sentence.
It goes against the very values this country was founded on. The conditions in some of these facilities should outrage all of us. And they have been.
When a facility like Otay Mesa was recently proposed just down the road in Gilroy, people came out of their homes and peacefully protested. Santa Clara County stepped in and sued to block it.
Now, we’re going one step further by asserting our local authority – and responsibility – to ensure compliance with local health, safety and environmental codes, just as we do with any other development within our jurisdiction. And we hope other cities across California and the nation follow suit.
San José’s model ordinance is a two-step process. If approved by the Council, we will first establish a temporary moratorium preventing any new detention center or processing facilities from being built in our city.
While we have this moratorium in place, we will evaluate the health, human and environmental safety concerns that persist in these facilities and, if warranted, develop updated land use regulations related to these types of facilities.
This only works if the rest of the South Bay follows suit. And thanks to Congressmember Sam Liccardo, who created a toolkit to help cities and counties exercise their local authority over these matters, they are. We are the first city to propose this ordinance, but we certainly are not alone.
Earlier this week, when we announced this new legislation, we were joined by elected officials from Santa Clara County, San Mateo County, Campbell, Monte Sereno, Mountain View, Palo Alto, and community groups from across the region.
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