The East Side facility ICE bought from Oakmont industrial Group is among the largest warehouses in San Antonio. Credit: Google Maps / Screenshot

The Immigration and Customs Enforcement detention site planned for San Antonio’s East Side will open by Sept. 30 and lock up as many as 1,500 people, the Express-News reported Friday, citing a letter the agency sent to local officials.

The massive warehouse the agency bought at 542 SE Loop 410 will serve as a holding site for 500 to 1,500 detainees at a time as their immigration proceedings play out, acting ICE director Todd Lyons told San Antonio officials, according to the daily. Once those legal proceedings are done, the prisoners will be sent to a more permanent detention sites, he added.

Despite informing San Antonio officials of the prison’s opening date, Lyon wrote that ICE hasn’t yet selected contractors to outfit the 600,000-square-foot building as a detention facility. The site is one of several the Trump administration purchased nationwide this spring to facilitate what it’s calling the largest mass deportation in U.S. history.

Atlanta-based Oakmont Industrial Group sold the East Side warehouse to ICE in February for $66 million, despite public outcry and opposition from members of City Council.

Mayor Gina Ortiz Jones and the council recently voted 7-2 to amend the city’s zoning code to prevent the opening of new private detention centers without city approval. However, that change doesn’t give the city authority to stop the federal government from opening detention centers here.

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Michael Karlis is a multimedia journalist at the San Antonio Current, whose coverage in print and on social media focuses on local and state politics. He is a graduate of American University in Washington,...