U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement has picked one of the companies behind Florida’s infamous Alligator Alcatraz detention camp to operate the agency’s massive detention warehouse planned on San Antonio’s East Side, the Express-News reports.
The federal agency awarded the $17.3 billion contract to private prison company GardaWorld Federal Services, the paper reports, citing federal documents. The site is expected to hold 1,000 to 1,500 detainees at a time while their deportations are processed.
In January, ICE paid $66.1 million to acquire the property at 542 S.E. Loop 410 — a site known as Oakmont 410 — as part of a purchasing spree of warehouses across the country as the agency continues to ramp up arrests and deportations.
Oakmont 410 is the second-largest warehouse property in San Antonio, spanning 639,595 square feet, according to multiple media reports. The facility, which was’t designed to house human beings, will have to be retrofitted to accommodate the increased plumbing demands. That’s raised environmental concerns with local activists and civic leaders.
GardaWorld is one of several prison and security companies contracted to operate the Everglades detention camp Alligator Alcatraz, which closed earlier this summer. Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis announced the shutdown on June 25, 2026 — nearly a year after the facility opened.
Though Alligator Alcatraz, officially called Everglades Detention Facility, was only open for a year, Amnesty International referred to that period as “a year of horrors.” The international human rights watchdog group said it documented rampant abuse at the facility during its brief time in operation.
“Research by Amnesty International concluded that people arbitrarily detained in the facility were being held in inhumane and unsanitary conditions, including overflowing toilets with fecal matter seeping into where people are sleeping, limited access to showers, exposure to insects without protective measures, lights on 24 hours a day, poor quality food and water, and lack of privacy — including cameras above the toilets,” the organization reported.
Department of Homeland Security (DHS) officials said the detention camp was shuttered due to safety concerns tied to the Atlantic hurricane season. DHS officials said detainees were transferred to facilities throughout the country, including Texas, but didn’t further clarify their new whereabouts, PBS reports.
GardaWorld has been embroiled in multiple lawsuits relating to its employment record. In one, armored truck drivers claimed the company failed to pay workers for overtime hours, according to Bloomberg News. Another claim accused the company of paying security guards less than the mandatory minimum wage for such a position.
A proposed class action lawsuit in 2025 argued that a cyberattack led to a data breach that compromised sensitive employee data, including Social Security numbers. GardaWorld agreed to a $1.5 million settlement to resolve the proposed class action lawsuit
In yet another lawsuit, a former security supervisor filed a whistleblower complaint alleging that a GardaWorld business unit defrauded the federal government by billing the State Department for insufficiently trained security personnel stationed at the U.S. Embassy in Kabul, Afghanistan.
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