SAN ANTONIO – The U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) has acquired a facility on the East Side to hold immigrant detainees, the agency confirmed Thursday.
ICE said in a statement obtained by KSAT that the facility wouldn’t be a warehouse but rather a “very well-structured” detention facility.
The property was purchased for over $66 million by the United States of America, according to documents released by the Bexar County Clerk’s Office.
The buyer’s address was listed as the ICE Headquarters in Washington, D.C., the documents said.
The San Antonio site will function as a processing facility with up to 1,500 beds, rather than a large-scale detention center, according to reports from The Washington Post and The Dallas Morning News.
“It should not come as news that ICE will be making arrests in states across the U.S. and is actively working to expand detention space,” an ICE spokesperson said.
However, a timeline for the ICE facility to start holding detainees remains unclear.
The facility, Oakmont 410, sits near residential neighborhoods and community spaces.
An apartment complex lies across the highway, with a school property nearby that the Texas Education Agency has ordered to close after this school year due to unrelated academic issues.
A community park is also a few blocks away. Within a few miles are multiple schools, grocery stores, churches and other community hubs.
The Trump administration maintains its support for the detention facilities, stating that most ICE arrests involve individuals who are in the U.S. illegally and have been charged with or convicted of a crime in the country. The goal, they say, is to remove them from the streets and ultimately deport them.
“ICE is targeting criminals including murderers, rapists, pedophiles, gang members and more,” the ICE spokesperson said, in part. “70% of ICE arrests are of illegal aliens charged or convicted of a crime in the U.S. Thanks to the One Big Beautiful Bill, ICE has new funding to expand detention space to keep these criminals off American streets before they are removed for good from our communities.”
This is a developing story. Check back later for updates.
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