SAN ANTONIO – Mayor Gina Ortiz Jones is calling on the new secretary of the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) to reconsider plans to turn an East Side warehouse into a detention facility for immigrants.
However, the city may have another iron in the fire.
Earlier this year, the federal government bought the roughly 640,000 square-foot warehouse at 542 SE Loop 410 for more than $66 million.
U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) confirmed the agency had bought land and a facility in San Antonio, though it didn’t specify where and indicated it would be used as a detention facility. The agency, however, has yet to provided a timeline.
The purchase fits in with ICE’s larger plans to increase its number of beds and streamline its removal process.
According to reports from The Washington Post and The Dallas Morning News, the San Antonio ICE site would function as a processing facility with up to 1,500 beds, rather than a large-scale detention center.
In late February, Jones joined other local elected officials when they told then-DHS Secretary Kristi Noem they opposed the plans for the warehouse and requested an in-person meeting.
In a Wednesday letter to Noem’s replacement, Markwayne Mullin, Jones said she had not received a response from Noem.
“However, I hope to have a more productive and transparent engagement with your office (Mullin) as we similarly aim to balance public safety and public trust,” Jones’ letter read.
The mayor asked Mullin to reconsider plans for the East Side warehouse.
“As I shared with your predecessor, my community is not interested in hosting an ICE processing facility and believes it will further depress economic activity in a part of town that already struggles to attract economic development,” she wrote.
DHS has reportedly paused the purchase of new warehouses as it scrutinizes all contracts signed under Noem. Previously completed warehouse purchases are also reportedly being under review.
In the meantime, San Antonio is exploring legal options.
Council members had previously directed staff to conduct “an assessment and determination of whether facilities and activities comply with applicable federal laws including environmental law.”
In a Thursday presentation, city staff said they were in discussion with a national law firm that has Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) expertise.
City Attorney Andy Segovia told Jones in the ensuing discussion the city had already engaged a firm.
“And so, they’re preparing right now, essentially, the court documents we would need to file a complaint,” Segovia said.
Segovia confirmed to KSAT such a complaint would be in regards to the East Side facility, and pointed to a “very similar” case in Maryland as an example.
A federal judge in Maryland has temporarily halted work on a similar plan to turn a warehouse into a detention facility after the state’s attorney general sued DHS and ICE, claiming they had not performed a required environmental review of a plan to turn a warehouse into a detention facility.
Segovia stressed, though, that the city had not yet decided “whether we’re doing it.”
The city council is also scheduled to vote on city code changes regarding private detention facilities at its April 16 meeting.
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