SAN ANTONIO – The fight to stop a planned ICE detention center on the East Side has become deeply personal for one local couple after a traffic stop in January led to a monthlong detention and tens of thousands of dollars in costs.

Hilda, who did not want to use her last name, brought her concerns to San Antonio City Council earlier this month, urging members to take action to prevent the facility from operating.

“I’m here to urge you to pass the resolution before you, and to do everything in your power — understanding the limitations — to prevent the operation of an ICE detention center in San Antonio …” Hilda said during the meeting.

Hilda said her husband was detained by ICE agents during a traffic stop in January, even though the couple has been working toward obtaining his citizenship since they married in 2019.

He spent nearly a month in an ICE detention center in Pearsall before his release.

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The couple said they spent nearly $38,000 on legal fees and other paperwork to get him released. They also said the arrest was the result of racial profiling.

Hilda’s husband described the stop, saying, “Entonces cuando me paro, me dice sabes porque te pare? No. No se. Porque tries el sticker, el registro muy alto en la camioneta.”

He added in English, “So then we he stopped me, he asked, do you know why I stopped you? I said I didn’t know. He said because your inspection sticker is too high on your windshield.”

The Department of Homeland Security wants to operate the large-scale detention center as part of a national strategy to increase enforcement, with the goal of expanding capacity and accelerating deportations.

Bexar County Precinct 4 Commissioner Tommy Calvert is among those working to stop the center from breaking ground.

“There’s a lot of corruption of the heart and cruelty that’s going on, and it doesn’t represent who we are…” Calvert said.

Questions remain about what options, if any, elected officials have to prevent the federal government from moving forward, what legal processes are being explored by the city, county, and nonprofits, and what the timeline is for those processes.