SAN ANTONIO – A U.S. senator’s post is gaining attention on social media after he posted a video describing his experience visiting San Antonio Immigration Court and South Texas detention facilities.
In a video with more than 653,000 videos on Facebook as of Friday evening, Sen. Chris Murphy (D-Connecticut), who is the top Democrat on a Senate Homeland Security funding panel, said he spent Wednesday morning at the San Antonio Immigration Court.
“It’s out of control,” Murphy said in the post. “Crawling with ICE — arresting legal immigrants showing up for court appearances. I asked one officer who they are prioritizing. His answer: everyone.”
KSAT has previously reported on immigrants living in the U.S. without legal permission who, after appearing for scheduled immigration court hearings, were immediately detained outside the courthouse by ICE officers.
In May 2025, ICE confirmed to KSAT 12 that officers do have the authority to arrest immigrants living in the U.S. without legal permission, even outside of court hearings.
“There were this morning, about a half dozen ICE officers in plain clothes … waiting for these people to come out from their hearings, and then they take them and send them into detention for immediate removal out of the United States, even though they have a pending claim, even though they have no criminal history, no arrest history,” Murphy said. “This is what’s happening inside of these facilities.”
Murphy was in San Antonio for oversight of detention centers in Dilley, Texas and Pearsall, Texas but said Homeland Security blocked him from the facilities. Dilley and Pearsall are cities roughly an hour southwest of San Antonio.
Murphy said members of Congress have a legal right to inspect the facilities and that he provided 24 hours’ notice.
In a statement, Murphy’s office said the senator also met with recent detainees who had been taken to Dilley and “heard about inhumane conditions within the facility.”
Rep. Tony Gonzales, whose district includes the Dilley facility, said Friday morning that messages by Democrats about the facilities are an effort to “spin the truth against law enforcement.”
“I’ve been there & seen the state-of-the-art facilities & protocols that (ICE) follows,” Gonzales said in an X post. “Our ICE agents & CBP (U.S. Customs and Border Protection) personnel are doing their jobs.”
KSAT has reached out to the Department of Justice and ICE for more information, but did not hear back as of Friday evening.
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