SAN ANTONIO – San Antonio councilmembers are gearing up for a fight to block the opening of an East Side warehouse as a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement facility.
Though the exact timeline is unclear, that fight could come quickly.
The San Antonio City Council voted 9-2 to ask the city-owned utilities, SAWS and CPS Energy, as well as certain city departments, to assess the potential impacts of a planned 1,500-person ICE processing facility off Loop 410.
“Every step that I take is to ensure that ultimately it is next on the list to be removed as a potential detention facility,” said Jalen McKee-Rodriguez (D2), who represents the area and had proposed the idea. “What this action does today is arm us with information, data, resources, anything that can help inform a legal challenge.”
A majority of the San Antonio City Council has been critical of the planned 1,500-person processing facility, which ICE has said could open early next year.
ICE bought the 640,000 square-foot warehouse for $66.1 million earlier this year. In late August, it awarded a $17.3 million contract to GardaWorld Federal Services LLC to renovate the East Side warehouse into a processing and detention facility and provide wraparound services to operate it.
Federal contract records show the contract has since grown to $61.8 million.
After news of the GardaWorld contract broke, the city’s development services director sent a letter on Sep. 9 to acting ICE Director David Venturella, stating the contract’s award meant ICE now had to consult with the city and begin a required environmental review process.
Though the department head asked ICE to provide written assurance by Sep. 30 that it will comply with legal requirements and coordinate efforts with the city and community, Jones said last week the city hadn’t received a response.
“I support legal action to halt all activities in light of the lack of transparency and in light, frankly, of the very concerning reports that we’ve seen at other facilities, some of that you heard even here today,” she told reporters Thursday. “So, I know, again, the city attorney is reviewing those options, and we expect an update here very, very shortly.”
Jones said pursuing legal action wouldn’t require a council vote.
“I’ll just say again, many of my colleagues, we’ve all expressed our support to move quickly. So you’ll get an update shortly,” she said.
The council is scheduled to discuss another resolution on Oct. 15 “to take action, support or coordinate in community efforts to prevent an ICE detention facility from being located in the urban core of the City of San Antonio.”
“My hope is that by that meeting, we will have already taken legal action,” McKee-Rodriguez.
The council’s two conservative members, Misty Spears (D9) and Marc Whyte (D10), voted against Thursday’s resolution.
“If we end up filing a lawsuit, that’s going to be a further waste of money,” Whyte said. “And again, why? To delay.”
Bexar County Commissioners are also scheduled to be briefed behind closed doors at an Oct. 13 meeting about “a legal review of litigation related to the operation of a federal detention facility.”
ICE did not respond to KSAT’s request for comment Thursday.
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