{"id":148159,"date":"2026-02-02T23:16:09","date_gmt":"2026-02-02T23:16:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/148159\/"},"modified":"2026-02-02T23:16:09","modified_gmt":"2026-02-02T23:16:09","slug":"san-antonio-councilman-calls-on-public-to-help-stop-ice-detention-site-from-opening-here","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/148159\/","title":{"rendered":"San Antonio councilman calls on public to help stop ICE detention site from opening here"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"Jalen McKee-Rodriguez made the call to action in a social media video. Credit: Jade Esteban Estrada<\/p>\n

District 2 City Councilman Jalen McKee-Rodriguez is calling on the public to help stop Immigration and Customs Enforcement\u2019s (ICE) reported plan to open a massive detention center on San Antonio\u2019s East Side.<\/p>\n

In a Sunday Instagram video, McKee-Rodriguez urged residents to call and email Oakmont Industrial Group, the owners of a warehouse ICE is reportedly eyeing for purchase, and ask the company to put a halt to the deal. The firm is close to selling the 639,595-square-foot facility at 542 SE Loop 420 to federal immigration officials, according to people familiar with the transaction<\/a>. <\/p>\n

\u201cICE detention centers are sites of documented atrocities,\u201d said McKee-Rodriguez, whose East Side district includes the warehouse. \u201cFamilies are torn apart. People are denied medical care. Human dignity is routinely violated. These facilities do not belong anywhere in our communities \u2026 . They certainly don\u2019t belong in diverse neighborhoods built around schools, parks and families.\u201d<\/p>\n

McKee-Rodriguez continued: \u201cIf this property is sold to the federal government, local communities lose almost all power to stop it because the federal government does not go through our zoning, land use, or permitting processes.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"San Antonio Councilman Jalen McKee-Rodriguez is encouraging folks to call and email Oakmont Industrial Group. Credit: Facebook \/ Jalen McKee-Rodriguez<\/p>\n

To that end, San Antonio Mayor Gina Ortiz Jones, in a statement to the Current, said ICE didn\u2019t notify city staff of the potential purchase. However, the city is largely powerless to stop the creation of a detention center after the sale goes through because it can\u2019t impose zoning restrictions on the federal government. <\/p>\n

Even so, the city council in Kansas City last week passed an ordinance that bans municipal officials from granting local permits, licensing or other approvals for ICE detention facilities. That ordinance was passed after the council learned that ICE planned to buy and convert a warehouse there into a detention center, the Kansas City Star reports<\/a>.<\/p>\n

However, Republican KC Councilman Nathan Willet told the Star that the ordinance is likely more symbolic than enforceable.<\/p>\n

\u201cUpon further legal counsel, I learned the ordinance itself cannot be enforced due to the Supremacy Clause,\u201d he said. \u201cThe city would lose in court.\u201d<\/p>\n

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\n\t\t\t\t\tBecause Geraldo Lunas Campos died at a military base, the El Paso District Attorney says any criminal case may fall to federal prosecutors. But criminal law experts say the state doesn\u2019t have to defer to them.\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n

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\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\"ICE\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/a><\/p>\n

\n\t\t\t\t\tBexar County Commissioner Tommy Calvert said he\u2019s ready to fight the plan and urged San Antonio officials to deny a zoning request for the facility. \t\t\t\t<\/p>\n

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\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\"What\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/a><\/p>\n

\n\t\t\t\t\tNearly 100 demonstrators caravanned to the site southwest of San Antonio to call for the release of all children being held at immigration detention facilities.\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n

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