WASHINGTON – U.S. Rep. Henry Cuellar addressed immigration enforcement actions impacting South Texas at a news conference with leaders from the South Texas Builders Association and the Laredo Chamber of Commerce.
On Wednesday morning, Cuellar and other panelists described and answered questions about how certain actions by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents, such as targeting community-driven workers, may be negatively impacting the state’s economy.
During the news conference, Cuellar was asked to confirm whether a warehouse on the East Side of San Antonio had been sold to ICE.
While local or federal officials have not confirmed this, the sale was first reported by the San Antonio Express-News on Tuesday morning. Citing anonymous sources, the paper said ICE had recently completed the purchase of a roughly 640,000-square-foot warehouse by Houston Street and Southeast Loop 410 “in the past day or so.”
A source in the commercial real estate industry — though they were not directly involved in the deal — later confirmed to KSAT that ICE had purchased the warehouse.
Cuellar responded to questions by saying he could not confirm the sale at this time. He claimed that the sale, if made by ICE, would be coming out of the Big Beautiful Bill, not appropriations. However, he hinted that warehouses were being sold not only in San Antonio but also in McAllen and other parts of Texas.
“I specifically asked them to get back to me, to get me information on what they’re doing on the East Side, what they’re doing in McAllen,” he said.
Additionally, KSAT asked Cuellar if he knew whether migrants were still being transferred into Dilley despite the two cases of measles that were reported last week.
Cuellar said that while the Trump Administration previously had said there would be no more “catch and release” for migrants, he had heard stories of detained migrants being released back into the community after a short period of time, rather than remaining in a facility. He did not provide any evidence to back that claim.
He also said that all health precautions were being taken in Dilley, but that he would continue to monitor the situation.
Cuellar and the panelists emphasized that while they believe the new tactics by ICE agents have begun to hurt South Texans, they still want to prioritize the arrest of dangerous criminals.
KSAT has reached out to ask about the number of transfers from the Dilley detention facility to the Laredo detention facility and when they will take place. Cuellar said he is working to obtain that information.
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