46 people so far detained by ICE outside Santa Clara County jail, sparking protests

Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents have detained at least 46 people outside Santa Clara County’s main jail since June 2025, exploiting publicly posted release lists to make arrests in a county that otherwise bars cooperation with federal immigration enforcement, officials say.

About 80 protesters gathered Wednesday outside the Elmwood Correctional Facility in Milpitas, accusing county officials of allowing the practice to continue despite sanctuary policies intended to shield immigrant communities.

One woman described watching the situation unfold firsthand while waiting for a family member’s release.

The woman said she has been waiting at the jail when two white vans pulled up. At first she didn’t think anything of them. Then she watched as her relative walked out of the jail and was detained by ICE agents.

“I was shocked and very emotional at what I just witnessed,” said the woman, whose written statement was read at the rally and whose name organizers withheld for safety reasons. “A sheriff walked out to meet me and asked why I was crying. I asked the sheriff what had happened, but they said they didn’t know what was going on.”

The rally was organized by South Bay civil rights group Silicon Valley Debug and featured speakers from several organizations.

“She came here expecting to pick up her loved one,” said Jamilah Rosales-Webb, an organizer with Debug. “She was lied to, thinking that Santa Clara had agreed not to cooperate with ICE, but they lied, just like they always do, and she had to witness her loved one being arrested again from our land.”

Santa Clara County has adopted sanctuary policies that bar local law enforcement from assisting with federal immigration enforcement and established “ICE-free” zones on county-owned properties in December.

But ICE agents have been able to locate people leaving the jail by reviewing publicly available inmate release lists and waiting outside the facility for those individuals to walk free.

In 2019, Santa Clara County reaffirmed its policy not to notify ICE of inmate release times after staff said the county could not independently verify immigration status and cited past instances in which U.S. citizens were arrested.

“What they’re doing right now is looking the other way,” said Xavier Espana, an organizer with Debug.

“This is just another showing of how the criminal justice system leads to deportation,” added Alicia Chavez, another Debug organizer.

Protesters held up 46 posters — one for each person detained by ICE outside Elmwood since June 2025 — with messages reading “missing” and “kidnapped by ICE.”

The Santa Clara County Sheriff’s Office said it does not coordinate with ICE and has no control over what happens once inmates leave custody.

Brooks Jarosz, a senior information officer for the Sheriff’s Office, said anyone from the public can enter the jail’s lobby, which is open 24 hours a day, and that a list of inmates scheduled for release is posted for public viewing.

“What we found is ICE is coming, checking that list and waiting around sometimes hours until that person is released,” Jarosz said.

Once someone leaves custody, he said, “they are free members of the public, and so we have no control of what happens beyond that point.”

Jarosz added that the Sheriff’s Office cannot legally obstruct another law enforcement agency from carrying out its duties.

“That would be a violation of the constitution of California and of the U.S.,” he said.

But some community leaders dispute that explanation.

Sean Allen, president of the NAACP of San Jose and Silicon Valley and a former law enforcement officer, said the sheriff has the authority to decide who can access jail property.

“How is it they pick up 46 people if they don’t know what time they’re getting out?” Allen said.

He added that the Board of Supervisors may need to strengthen its policies restricting immigration enforcement on county property.

“They need to specify that ordinance to say ICE cannot come onto jail property or court property to pick up our folks,” Allen said.

The arrests have sparked fear among families of immigrants incarcerated at Elmwood.

Another woman, whose brother is incarcerated at Elmwood, said in a written statement read by protest organizers that the uncertainty surrounding his eventual release weighs heavily on her family. Her name was withheld for safety reasons.

“Every single day, my family wakes up knowing that my older brother is inside Elmwood Correctional Facility, and with that comes constant fear,” she said.

“Knowing that your loved one could be picked up by ICE after serving their time is a different kind of heartbreak. It feels like a second punishment.”