{"id":150418,"date":"2026-02-04T09:30:17","date_gmt":"2026-02-04T09:30:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/150418\/"},"modified":"2026-02-04T09:30:17","modified_gmt":"2026-02-04T09:30:17","slug":"ice-closes-purchase-of-east-san-antonio-warehouse-it-will-use-as-detention-site","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/150418\/","title":{"rendered":"ICE closes purchase of East San Antonio warehouse it will use as detention site"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"ProtestersProtesters gather last week for a protest at an ICE family detention center in Dilley, south of San Antonio. Credit: Michael Karlis<\/p>\n

U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement has acquired a massive East Side warehouse the agency wants to turn into a detention facility as part of the Trump White House\u2019s anti-immigrant crackdown, the Express-News reports<\/a>. <\/p>\n

The acquisition comes despite last-minute efforts by San Antonio Democrats to derail the sale, first reported on late last week<\/a>. <\/p>\n

The agency signed a contract to take over Oakmont 410, a 640,000-square-foot industrial property that\u2019s sat vacant for three years, the daily reported, citing a source who asked to remain anonymous. The property, located at 542 S.E. Loop 410, is owned by Oakmont Industrial Group.<\/p>\n

ICE plans to transform the warehouse into a 1,500-bed \u201cprocessing center,\u201d according to an internal agency document reported on by the Dallas Morning News<\/a>. The feds\u2019 memo outlined plans for four new holding facilities in Texas, including a pair of 8,500-capacity \u201cmega\u201d detention centers in El Paso and Hutchins, along with smaller sites in San Antonio and Los Fresnos.<\/p>\n

Chelsie Kramer, Texas organizer for advocacy group the American Immigration Council, told the Morning News the expansion indicates ICE is looking to significantly escalate the pace of its arrests. <\/p>\n

\u201cThey\u2019re not doing it for no reason,\u201d Kramer added.<\/p>\n

East Side politicos including District 2 City Councilman Jalen McKee-Rodriguez, Precinct 4 Bexar Commissioner Tommy Calvert and State Rep. Barbara Gervin-Hawkins have spoken out against ICE\u2019s plan to warehouse human beings in Oakmont 410. <\/p>\n

\u201cThis administration is not affirming my, this community and our country\u2019s values for freedom and democracy,\u201d Calvert told the Current last week. \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

However, it\u2019s unclear what steps, if any, city and county officials can take to stop ICE from moving ahead. Local zoning rules aren\u2019t applicable to federal facilities, according to a statement from the City of San Antonio.<\/p>\n

In the meantime, ICE\u2019s militarized crackdowns in Minneapolis and other cities have drawn public protest and further cratered the polling numbers of the already unpopular president. <\/p>\n

Although Trump and the architects of his mass-deportation plan initially pledged that it would target the \u201cworst of the worst\u201d criminals, data show 73.6%\u00a0of those held in ICE detention have no criminal conviction according to data current as of\u00a0Nov. 30, 2025 compiled by the nonpartisan Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse<\/a>. Many of those convictions were for minor offenses such as traffic violations. <\/p>\n

\u00a0\u201c[T]he conversation about illegal immigration today is no longer about protecting Americans from \u2018open borders\u2019 or about migrant gangs wreaking havoc on American citizens,\u201d veteran political watcher Amy Walter wrote last week for the Cook Political Report<\/a>. \u201cInstead, it\u2019s about the ways in which the deportations themselves \u2014 often of migrants who are undocumented but have no other criminal record \u2014 are being conducted. And, on that score, Americans strongly disapprove.\u201d<\/p>\n

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