Sheriff limits access to Elmwood jail as immigration agents wait outside county jails
Only people with business at the Milpitas jail may use its lot and lobby. About 70 people have been detained by federal agents near county jails since June 2025, the sheriff's office says.
The Santa Clara County Sheriff's Office has put new access and security measures in place at Elmwood Correctional Facility, the county jail complex in Milpitas, after federal immigration agents spent days waiting outside county jails for people being released. The sheriff's office announced the measures on X on Oct. 31, with photos of orange barriers and "Detour" cones at the facility's entrances.
Under the change, only people with direct business at the jail may use its parking lot and lobby, NBC Bay Area reported Oct. 30.
Agents from U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, the federal agency known as ICE, have been seen near Elmwood and the county's Main Jail in downtown San Jose. "We are aware of people being stopped, questioned, and sometimes apprehended shortly after they're released," sheriff's spokesperson Brooks Jarosz told KTVU. He said the sheriff's office was not involved. About 70 people have been detained by federal agents near county jails since June 2025, according to figures the sheriff's office gave San José Spotlight.
Volunteers who watch for immigration arrests near the jails told San José Spotlight that agents chased a man near a creek outside Elmwood around 10 p.m. Oct. 28 and used a Taser on him, and that he was taken to Regional Medical Center in San Jose. ICE did not respond to KTVU's request for comment.
In a community update posted in October, the sheriff's office said it follows California's Values Act, a 2017 state law also called SB 54 that limits how local police can help with federal immigration enforcement. The office said it does not tell ICE when people will be released, does not hold people on ICE requests known as civil immigration detainers, and does not share criminal histories with ICE for civil immigration cases. It does follow arrest warrants signed by a judge.
The update also said ICE has periodically come to the Elmwood lobby for more than a year, and that agents may legally be in public areas. The sheriff's office "cannot interfere with another law enforcement agency acting within the law," it said.
County leaders said Oct. 30 that the county "continues to uphold its long-standing non-cooperation policies regarding federal civil immigration enforcement," NBC Bay Area reported. With Election Day on Tuesday, they added, "we are committed to ensuring all citizens are able to freely and safely cast their vote."
Source: Santa Clara County Sheriff's Office on X; Sheriff's Office community update; Sheriff's Office notice on Elmwood measures