Mayor Gina Ortiz Jones sent a letter Tuesday asking the Trump White House’s new Department of Homeland Security secretary to abort the agency’s plan to open a massive immigrant detention center on San Antonio’s East Side.
The letter addressed to DHS Secretary Markwayne Mullin requested that the government not go through with the development, arguing it would “further depress economic activity in a part of town that already struggles to attract economic development.”
The federal government earlier this year spent $66.1 million to buy a 640,000-square-foot distribution center at 542 S.E. Loop 410, which it plans to convert into a facility to hold ICE detainees. DHS officials haven’t said how many people the agency plans to keep in detention there.
Jones’ correspondence with Mullin follows a letter Jones and other local and state officials sent in February to then-DHS Secretary Kristi Noem urging her not to pursue the lockup. At the time, the mayor cautioned the development would be a waste of taxpayer money and an economic albatross for the East Side.
“I did not receive a response from your predecessor; however, I hope to have a more productive and transparent engagement with your office as we similarly aim to balance public safety and public trust,” Jones said in her message to Mullin.
City Council voted 8-2 last month to instruct city staff to explore options that could limit the opening of certain types of detention facilities inside the city.
The resolution instructs staff to explore creating a new zoning category that would bar certain types of construction near housing, parks and schools. It also asks staff to place a moratorium on privately owned and operated prison facilities.
However, Jones and others on council questioned how much success the city would have in pushing back against the feds with new ordinances. District 2 Councilman Jalen McKee-Rodriguez told concerned residents the best course of action is to demand federal lawmakers do more to rein in the Trump administration’s crackdown.
“Get on your Congress members,” he said. “Push them, because they are allowing this behavior.”
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