Dozens of protesters lined Southwest Military Drive on Sunday to protest President Trump’s mass deportation efforts, according to videos of the gatherings shared on social media.
Some protesters carried signs reading “Fuck ICE” and “Keep the familia together,” while others carried Mexican flags. The rally along the major South Side thoroughfare coincided with a separate protest at Historic Market Square.
That same day, hundreds of protesters gathered in Dallas and Fort Worth to decry Trump’s new immigration policies.
The rallies took place as federal agents amassed at San Antonio’s ICE field office and a spokesperson for the agency confirmed that it collaborated with the Drug Enforcement Agency, FBI and Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives on “enhanced targeted operations” in the Alamo City.
Some 30 government vehicles were dispatched from ICE’s San Antonio office Sunday morning, immigrant-rights activists told the Current.
The upswell in local ICE activity comes 10 days after the Wall Street Journal reported the agency would begin mass-deportation raids in cities that have enacted policies to protect undocumented migrants, including San Antonio.
During Fox News appearances, Tom Homan — Trump’s so-called “border czar” has said the initial round of ICE raids will target violent criminals who entered the country illegally. However, it’s possible other undocumented immigrants may be swept up in the effort, he added.
“Let me be clear, it’s not only public safety threats that will be arrested, because in sanctuary cities, we’re not allowed to get that public safety threat into jail,” Homan said on one of his FOX appearances. “That means we have to go into the neighborhood and find him. And when we find him, he may be with others. And, unlike the last administration, we’re not going to tell our ICE officers not to arrest an illegal alien. So, if they find others, they’ll be arrested.”
The City of San Antonio said last week in a statement to the Current that its police will cooperate with ICE in the deportation sweeps, so long as the feds can provide legal justification for the actions.
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This article appears in Jan 22 – Feb 4, 2025.