U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement in January purchased Oakmont 410, an industrial building it plans to convert to a detention center.
Monte Bach/San Antonio Exp
Congressman Joaquin Castro, Bexar County Commissioner Tommy Calvert and Father Jimmy Drennan joined hundreds of demonstrators Saturday for a march to support the immigrant community. The protesters gathered at Davis Middle School and marched about a mile to the facility purchased by the federal government to serve as an immigration detention center.
Ethan E. Rocke
Some San Antonio and Bexar County officials are considering suing the federal government to stop an immigration detention center from opening in their backyard — a tactic employed by local and state authorities elsewhere to try to slow the Trump administration’s deportation campaign.
U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement in January bought a vacant industrial building at 542 S.E. Loop 410 on the East Side to house as many as 1,500 people per day during their immigration proceedings. The agency in August awarded a contract to begin renovating the building for the immigration center, though it’s unclear whether the work has started.
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Democrat officials have been looking for ways to block the facility, including changing San Antonio’s zoning requirements and mandating that detention center operators secure a special designation. But the federal government is largely exempt from local rules.
Now they’re trying to determine whether ICE is complying with the National Environmental Policy Act, which requires federal agencies to assess environmental effects of proposed facilities before starting construction.
In a flurry of statements Friday, a majority of the 10-member City Council and Mayor Gina Ortiz Jones said they’re in favor of San Antonio taking legal action to halt the detention center and have asked City Attorney Andy Segovia to review their options.
They said the city hasn’t received a response after asking ICE on Sept. 9 to confirm by Sept. 30 that the agency will follow the environmental act and coordinate with San Antonio on its plans.
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“The fact that the Federal Government has elected to disregard legally required NEPA reviews in an attempt to force this facility through only reinforces the need for the City to act with urgency in protecting all of our residents,” a group of council members said in a statement.
City Council is nonpartisan but most of its members identify as Democrats, and Jones ran as the Democratic candidate in Congressional District 23 in 2018 and 2020, losing both times.
They also want CPS Energy and the San Antonio Water System to evaluate how the facility would affect water and power services, a policy proposal put forth by Councilman Jalen McKee-Rodriguez, who represents the East Side.
Council members on Friday demanded that the mayor call for a special meeting about it, which she did. Council is scheduled to discuss the issue Thursday.
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ICE said it would conduct “community impact studies and a rigorous due diligence process to make sure there is no hardship on local utilities or infrastructure prior to purchase.” But the agency didn’t say whether it has performed those reviews for the San Antonio building.
City spokespeople didn’t immediately respond to an inquiry Monday about whether Segovia’s office has weighed in on the city’s legal options.
At an event Saturday opposing the detention center, Bexar County Precinct 4 Commissioner Tommy Calvert told protesters he plans to ask county officials to sue the federal government at a Commissioners Court meeting next week, according to the San Antonio Report. Calvert didn’t respond to an inquiry Monday.
If San Antonio and Bexar County officials sue the federal government for violating environmental requirements, they would be following a playbook employed by other municipalities trying to prevent ICE from opening detention centers.
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State and local officials in California, Maryland, Arizona, New Jersey and Michigan filed lawsuits last spring, arguing the U.S. Department of Homeland Security and ICE didn’t follow environmental regulations or gather input from local officials on plans to repurpose industrial buildings as detention centers in their states.
In some cases, construction on the facilities has largely been put on hold pending judges’ orders for environmental reviews. In others, DHS has reversed its plans to open detention centers amid the court battles and department leadership changes.
The federal government spent around $1 billion buying warehouses across the country as it ramped up arrests under then-Homeland Security Security Kristi Noem. But it pulled back after she was forced to step down and new leaders took the helm. DHS has since put some of the warehouses it acquired up for sale.
The El Paso County Attorney sued ICE in April to try to force the agency to release documents requested under the Freedom of Information Act for a detention complex in Socorro. The federal government scrapped its plans for the site in August.
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Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro’s administration in March issued administrative orders barring local authorities from providing water and sewage services to buildings DHS planned to turn into detention centers until the agency showed it was meeting environmental rules. In July, DHS said it wouldn’t move forward with either facility.
Salt Lake City and Salt Lake County also sued DHS in June on similar grounds, arguing the agency hadn’t conducted environmental assessments or sought feedback from officials before buying a warehouse to convert to a detention center. Attorneys for ICE said in August that the agency was canceling its plans.
In San Antonio, ICE appears to be moving forward with the East Side facility.
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In a June letter to Jones, acting ICE chief David Venturella said the agency expects to open the detention center next winter to “address rising operational tempo and increasing arrests” and “plans to renovate these facilities to safely, securely, and humanely house detainees.”
The agency in August awarded a $17.3 million contract to security contractor GardaWorld Federal Services LLC for the center.