Cuellar’s call for clarity comes a day after Mayor Jones sent a letter to Texas’ congressional delegation urging them not to fund the east-side facility.

SAN ANTONIO — Democratic U.S. Rep. Henry Cuellar has joined the chorus of leaders criticizing the federal government’s purchase of a San Antonio warehouse expected to serve as an immigration detention facility, saying he’s “pressing for clear answers.”

According to county records, the federal government bought a 640,000-square-foot facility at 542 SE Loop 410 for $66.1 million. ICE officials said it intends to establish a “very well-structured” detention facility in San Antonio amid the recent land and building transaction. 

Official details about logistics at the facility, however, haven’t been publicly revealed. 

The transaction has prompted outcry from San Antonio residents as well as members of City Council, which on Thursday voted 9-2 to authorize city staff to explore options in response to the warehouse purchase, including a possible pause on the establishment of non-city-run detention facilities. 

“It is clear ICE failed to consult with the community ahead of this purchase, but ICE officials have said the agency intends to brief Congress as plans develop,” Cuellar, whose district stretches from east San Antonio down to the Rio Grande Valley, said in a statement. “Based on the information that’s been shared so far, the proposed acquisition and retrofitting of the San Antonio facility could include about 1,500 beds and wrap-around services like medical care, but we still need more details concerning the plans, timing, and potential impact on our community’s infrastructure.”

Cuellar’s call for clarity comes a day after Mayor Gina Ortiz Jones sent a letter to him and the rest of Texas’ congressional delegation urging them not to fund the facility. In the letter, she called the suggestion that the detention center could be a jobs creator “insulting and inaccurate,” adding the community would be better-served if the funds were used to “eliminate the tariffs that have driven up costs in our community and reverse the proposed cuts to Medicare, Medicaid, CHIP and SNAP as part of the One Big Beautiful Bill Act.”

A shutdown for the Department of Homeland Security, which oversees ICE, appeared imminent Friday night as negotiations with the White House over Democrats’ demands for new restrictions have stalled. But ICE operations are expected to continue because the Trump administration can tap into funds from the tax and spending cut bill passed last year. 

Cuellar, who sits on the Homeland Security Appropriations Subcommittee, said he didn’t believe purchasing the warehouse for ICE operations amounted a responsible use of funds.

“I don’t support this approach,” he added. 

Democratic U.S. Rep. Greg Casar, who covers a sliver of the Interstate 35 corridor from San Antonio to Austin, said in a post on X last week that leaders should be closing ICE facilities, “not building more.”

“We’ll fight with every tool we have to prevent it,” Casar said. 

Congressman Joaquin Castro has also been outspoken against federal immigration enforcement in recent weeks, having traveled to Dilley and San Antonio to push for the release of 5-year-old Liam Conejo Ramos after he was detained with his father in Minneapolis.Â