San Antonio City Council members have requested an environmental and utility impact study, a move that may be the city’s last available tool to delay or stop ICE’s plan to convert a southeast-side warehouse into a 1,500-bed detention facility.
Council member Jalen McKee-Rodriguez submitted the request in late August with the concurrence of four other council members. The request asks CPS Energy and the San Antonio Water System, both city-owned utilities, to “conduct and publicly present an assessment of the anticipated impacts associated with the operation of the detention facility purchased by DHS off Southeast Loop 410, including impacts on energy demand, water and wastewater systems, and the potential impact on current and future utility rates for San Antonio customers.”
The request comes after ICE awarded GardaWorld Federal Services a $17.3 million contract on August 25 to renovate and operate the facility. The contract covers modification of an existing warehouse of more than 600,000 square feet that ICE purchased in early February for more than $66 million. GardaWorld’s fixed-price contract calls for the company to provide full wraparound services to run a facility housing up to 1,500 detainees awaiting deportation.
That contract moved forward despite earlier objections from Mayor Gina Ortiz Jones, who wrote to Department of Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin in April stating, “My community is not interested in hosting an ICE processing facility.”
The Council’s Case
In his Council Consideration Request, McKee-Rodriguez laid out why he believes an independent review is needed before the project advances further.
“The construction and operation of a large detention facility may create significant demands on San Antonio’s utility, transportation, environmental, public health, and public safety systems. San Antonio residents should have access to an independent assessment of these impacts, and any associated costs before additional detention facilities are approved or expanded. Independent findings are also necessary to supplement the federal government’s environmental impact assessment and ensure that local impacts are fully evaluated and publicly understood.”
A National Playbook
The utility-study request mirrors a strategy used elsewhere by opponents of ICE detention expansion. Earthjustice, a nonprofit environmental law organization, has promoted challenges to ICE warehouse conversions through social media campaigns nationwide, arguing on its website that the projects endanger nearby water systems and represent a looming “public health disaster” tied to sewer system strain.
Earthjustice has also linked the facilities to what it describes as a Trump administration goal of deporting one million people per year, alleging ICE is “deporting people indiscriminately.” The group has coordinated challenges in eleven states, including four in Texas — in Baytown, El Paso, Los Fresnos, and now San Antonio.
Despite the local opposition, the San Antonio site offers ICE clear operational advantages: it sits near a major international airport, roughly 30 hospitals, and multiple U.S.-Mexico border crossings, making it well positioned for the agency’s processing, detention, and removal mission.
Add comment