ICE Moves Forward with Massive Detention Facility in San Antonio over Objections from Mayor

Despite a litany of protests and political efforts to block the opening of a massive U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) processing and detention facility in the Alamo City, the agency will move forward with the project.

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SAN ANTONIO, Texas — Despite a litany of protests and political efforts to block the opening of a massive U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) processing and detention facility in the Alamo City, the agency will move forward with the project. On Thursday, ICE officials awarded GardaWorld Federal Services a $17.3 million contract to renovate an existing warehouse and provide services to operate it.

The contract calls for the company to modify a more than 600,000-square-foot warehouse on the city’s east side that ICE purchased in early February for more than $66 million. The initial fixed-price contract calls for GardaWorld to provide full wrap-around services needed to run the facility that will house up to 1,500 detainees awaiting deportation.

The award, granted under a Navy contracting program, will run from the date of the award through August 25, 2027, and the full $17.3 million was committed upfront for the initial one-year period. The delivery order, 70CDCR26FR0000103, which was announced and posted to the federal contracting database at SAM.gov, is a multi-year contract capped at slightly more than $1 billion.

The wraparound services needed at ICE-contracted detention facilities generally include detainee care and safekeeping, facility management and administration, food service operations, armed transportation services, and facility security operations, all of which must meet ICE detention standards.

In a failed bid to keep the massive ICE processing and detention facility from opening, San Antonio Mayor Gina Ortiz Jones pleaded with DHS Secretary Markwayne Mullin to reconsider the agency’s plans. As reported by Breitbart Texas, Ortiz Jones sent a letter to Mullin in April, telling Mullin, “My community is not interested in hosting an ICE processing facility.”

In the letter, Mayor Ortiz Jones complained about a lack of information sharing between her office and ICE, adding, “Despite numerous attempts, neither my office nor the city staff have received formal notification regarding ICE’s reported purchase and potential use of a 640,000+ square foot warehouse located at 542 SE Loop 410 Access Rd, San Antonio, Texas.”

San Antonio left-wing activist groups, including the local chapter of the Party for Socialism and Liberation (PSL), have hosted protests at the facility in recent months, hoping to influence ICE to ditch the planned facility. Breitbart Texas attended the protests that motivated ICE to install perimeter security fencing at the newly purchased warehouse to keep the protesters off federal property.

Strategically, the site is well-suited to carry out the agency’s mission of processing, detaining, and removing illegal aliens due to its proximity to a major international airport, hospitals, and the U.S.-Mexico border.

There are nearly 30 major hospitals in San Antonio, including Brooke Army Medical Center, a Level I Trauma Center located just 5 miles from the proposed facility. The San Antonio International Airport is less than 15 miles from the site, offering easy access to ICE aircraft for detainee movement and removal. In addition, several land ports of entry are less than 200 miles away in Eagle Pass and Laredo that offer land repatriation opportunities for the agency.

Randy Clark is a 32-year veteran of the United States Border Patrol. Before his retirement, he served as the Division Chief for Law Enforcement Operations, directing operations for nine Border Patrol Stations within the Del Rio, Texas, Sector. Follow him on X (formerly Twitter) @RandyClarkBBTX.