Monterey County Board of Supervisors to consider banning construction of detention facilities.

Following attempts by federal agencies to build immigration detention facilities in the Bay Area, the Monterey County Board of Supervisors will consider temporarily banning the construction of detention facilities in unincorporated Monterey County. 

The supervisors will have a public hearing and are set to vote Tuesday, Sept. 29 on a moratorium on the construction or expansion of detention or correctional facilities on unincorporated Monterey County land. 

The moratorium would last 45 days—then, supervisors could vote to extend it. At least four of the five supervisors must vote yes on the moratorium for it to pass. 

They will also consider a policy to prohibit the use of county property for immigration enforcement activities, with the exception of criminal law enforcement (such as a warrant) and existing leases or contracts. 

The moratorium comes after concerns of proposed detention facilities near Gilroy in Santa Clara County and in Dublin in Alameda County in the Bay Area. 

Monterey County Board of Supervisors led a coalition of 26 cities and counties to oppose the detention facility near Gilroy. They also joined the litigation alongside the County of Santa Clara and the California Department of Justice. 

When the board voted to oppose the detention facility near Gilroy in May, they also directed their staff to review zoning and land use policies to see how similar projects could be prevented in Monterey County. The result is the moratorium that they will now consider Tuesday afternoon. 

There are currently no immigration detention facilities in Monterey County. There are three correctional facilities: Salinas Valley State Prison and Correctional Training Facility in Soledad, and Monterey County Jail in Salinas. None are located on unincorporated Monterey County lands.

According to the proposed ordinance, the county would bar detention facilities on the basis that they believed that it would cause significant environmental impacts and would negatively affect public health and safety. 

They also said the current zoning laws did not sufficiently regulate detention facilities, and that regulations must be reviewed and developed. 

They plan to meet at the Board Chambers at 1:30pm Tuesday, Sept. 29 to discuss and vote on both temporarily barring the construction and expansion of immigration detention facilities, and to prohibit county property from being used for civil immigration enforcement.