{"id":144512,"date":"2026-01-30T20:42:22","date_gmt":"2026-01-30T20:42:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/144512\/"},"modified":"2026-01-30T20:42:22","modified_gmt":"2026-01-30T20:42:22","slug":"ice-reportedly-close-to-buying-san-antonio-warehouse-to-turn-into-new-detention-center","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/144512\/","title":{"rendered":"ICE reportedly close to buying San Antonio warehouse to turn into new detention center"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"AA Customs and Border Patrol agent guards a fence outside an ICE detention center in Chicago. Credit: Shutterstock \/ Andres A Chavez<\/p>\n

U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) is poised to buy a massive East Side warehouse, which it plans to turn into a detention facility, the San Antonio Business Journal Reports<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The agency enforcing President Donald Trump\u2019s increasingly aggressive anti-immigrant crackdown could close a deal as early this week on the vacant 639,595-square-foot structure at 542 SE Loop 410, according to an unnamed source familiar with the transaction.<\/p>\n

Neither ICE nor Oakmont Industrial Group, which the owner of the warehouse branded as 410 Oakmont, responded to the Business Journal\u2019s request for comment. The publication\u2019s research of property documents shows it hasn\u2019t yet been placed under contract. <\/p>\n

However, news of the pending purchase appears to dovetail with a new Washington Post report<\/a> that the federal government is moving to snap up real estate in 23 cities to convert into ICE detention centers. Those new lockups together could incarcerate up to 80,000 people.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The Post article lists San Antonio as one of the markets where ICE is pursuing a real estate but offered little further detail about its plans here. <\/p>\n

Another real-estate source who requested anonymity told the Business Journal that ICE has circulated its call for a large warehouse space that can be converted into a detention site.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere is a private contractor that is securing a facility for an ICE detention facility,\u201d the source said.<\/p>\n

Oakmont 410 carries an industrial zoning designation from the city that wouldn\u2019t allow human occupancy, according to the Business Journal. That means ICE would likely need to see a special-use permit to use it to detain migrants, one of the paper\u2019s unnamed real estate sources said. <\/p>\n

The Current reached out to City of San Antonio officials including Mayor Gina Ortiz Jones for comment on whether the city would allow ICE to seek such an exemption but got no immediate response Friday morning. <\/p>\n

However, Bexar County Commissioner Tommy Calvert, whose precinct contains the warehouse, said he\u2019s already taking steps to urge the city to deny a rezoning request. Calvert led successful fights<\/a> during the first Trump administration to halt federal contractor VisionQuest\u2019s plan to set up a pair of San Antonio facilities to house migrant children. <\/p>\n

\u201cThis administration is not affirming my, this community and our country\u2019s values for freedom and democracy,\u201d Calvert said. \u201cThey\u2019re killing people in the street \u2014\u00a0innocent Americans. So, this is very serious, and we need to not only deny their zoning but we also need to follow who\u2019s making money off this, and we need to boycott them.\u201d<\/p>\n

Calvert, a Democrat, said the Trump White House is eager to create ICE detention centers nationwide so it can use them to intimidate U.S. residents and weaponize federal immigration agents to target political enemies. <\/p>\n

\u201cYou can\u2019t tell me that with this 1,402-acre facility that is on the Texas border and all these other centers that are already established that ICE really needs this,\u201d he said. \u201cI think this is portending to dictatorial plans, which can shift to political enemies over time. \u2026 I think more Democrats need to be more clear that it\u2019s not just \u2018Aw, shucks, another building.’\u201d<\/p>\n

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