San Antonio activists press city to sue to block planned ICE warehouse detention center

# What happened ICE bought a warehouse at 542 S.E. Loop 410 in San Antonio for $66.1 million earlier this year and plans to convert it into a detention center. The agency has said it expects to hold between 1,000 and 1,500 people there each day during immigration proceedings, and aims to open the facility next winter.

# Who is pushing back Bexar County Commissioner Tommy Calvert and Father Jimmy Drennan, pastor of St. Margaret Mary Catholic Church, are organizing a march for Oct. 3 to demand stronger local action. They want city and county attorneys to examine legal options, including potential challenges under the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) and other administrative routes.

Mayor Gina Ortiz Jones has asked ICE's acting director to explain the status of any environmental review, how ICE will handle city permitting, and how the agency will solicit and consider public feedback. She set a Sept. 30 deadline for a response before the City Council discusses next steps.

# Why local officials' authority is limited The property is federally owned. That ownership reduces the city's ability to block the project using local zoning laws, which is why opponents are focusing on legal and administrative claims such as whether NEPA reviews were completed and whether federal agencies complied with processes that allow public input.

# Main concerns raised by community leaders

• Environmental and infrastructure strain: Calvert specifically named water and sewer capacity and asked whether proper environmental review under NEPA occurred. Other jurisdictions have successfully used environmental claims and administrative orders to delay warehouse-to-detention conversions.
• Community fear and disruption: Father Drennan says families in his parish fear that students and parents could be detained, causing a climate of fear and loss of school enrollment in the neighborhood.

• Safety and urgency: A recent shooting in Austin involving ICE agents and a DoorDash driver has heightened local concern and urgency around the proposed facility.

# Planned public action and timeline Organizers will gather at Davis Middle School on East Houston Street at 8 a.m. on Saturday, Oct. 3, and begin a march to the ICE site at 9 a.m. The march is described by organizers as peaceful and prayerful, but their stated goal is to pressure the district attorney's civil division and the city attorney to file legal challenges aimed at delaying or stopping operations.

# What may happen next

• The mayor will evaluate ICE's responses to her questions after the Sept. 30 deadline and bring the matter to the City Council for discussion.

• If the city or county pursues litigation, the federal government's ownership of the property will shape the legal strategy and available claims.

# Bottom line Local leaders and residents are mobilizing to force transparency and explore legal routes to stop or delay the conversion of a federally owned warehouse into a large ICE detention center on San Antonio's East Side. The immediate pressure point is the Oct. 3 march and the city's Sept. 30 deadline for federal answers about environmental review, permitting, and public input.