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City leaders, including Mayor Ron Nirenberg and San Antonio Police Chief William McManus, gathered on Wednesday to address Gov. Greg Abbott’s deployment of Texas National Guard soldiers to San Antonio on Tuesday.
The deployment this week was in anticipation of protests against Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE).
Anti-ICE protests are planned in downtown San Antonio on Wednesday evening and through the weekend.
Mayor Ron Nirenberg said he understood “the anger and frustration that’s out there with the federal government’s crude interpretations of immigration law and cruel approach to human rights.”
He added that while he could “empathize with a serious fatigue that the federal administration is causing within our community,” he also reinforced a “call to remain peaceful.”
https://t.co/uagWqxEJWS pic.twitter.com/Th2NLjzTym
— Mayor Ron Nirenberg (@Ron_Nirenberg) June 11, 2025
Nirenberg explained that city officials received “no advance warning” about the deployment, nor any specific details about its mission.
William McManus, chief of the San Antonio Police Department, said that city officials were prepared for every scenario. “We kind of take everything into account when we plan for these kinds of demonstrations and the possibility of what might happen,” he explained. “So we plan for the worst, and we hope, of course, for the best.”
He added that the city leadership planned to be in communication with the commander of the National Guard troops. “We’ll make sure that we know what they’re doing, and they understand what we’re doing.”
Officials said that, so far, there has been no direct communication between the local agencies and the National Guard.
Recent protests in San Antonio were triggered by ICE agents arresting migrants at immigration court immediately after their cases were dismissed. Previous protests over the past week have been peaceful.
A social media post from Abbott’s office read in part: “Texas National Guard will be deployed to locations across the state to ensure peace & order. Peaceful protest is legal. Harming a person or property is illegal & will lead to arrest.” It added that the Texas National Guard would employ “every tool and strategy to help law enforcement maintain order.”
Texas National Guard will be deployed to locations across the state to ensure peace & order.
— Greg Abbott (@GregAbbott_TX) June 11, 2025
Peaceful protest is legal.
Harming a person or property is illegal & will lead to arrest.@TexasGuard will use every tool & strategy to help law enforcement maintain order. https://t.co/rS8b5zgE3T
McManus also said that there will be a protest — titled “Take Back the Alamo Again” — on Wednesday night in front of the Alamo. He said that he was “prepared for a peaceful demonstration” but “also prepared for work” if the demonstration “turned violent and where property is being destroyed and businesses are being looted.”
He added: “We're there initially to protect the peaceful, to protect the constitutional rights to express First Amendment [rights].”
He said that this would be the approach for any other protests this week, including the one planned on Saturday.
That protest was planned to condemn President Trump’s military parade in Washington D.C. to mark the 250th anniversary of the U.S. Army.
The “No-Kings Nationwide Day of Defiance” protest is scheduled to begin at 5 p.m. at Travis Park.
The parade in Washington will include military vehicles and aircraft and is purported to cost $45 million.
The groups Bexar Democrats and the North East Bexar County Democrats were among the sponsors of the event. In a statement, organizers explained that the "'No Kings' nationwide protest movement, named in rejection of authoritarianism and political overreach, will bring together diverse community individuals and organizations in a peaceful demonstration to defend democratic values, civil liberties, and freedom of speech."
Organizers advised anyone planning to participate that they should prepare for exposure to tear gas and carry first-aid kits.
In a statement from national organizers, they predicted that "No Kings actions will occur in more than 1,800 locations. The day is expected to be the largest single-day mobilization since President Trump returned to office — a mass, nationwide protest rejecting authoritarianism, billionaire-first politics, and the militarization of our democracy."
Organizers added Abbott's military deployment "invites and encourages violence," and they were confident that Bexar County and San Antonio law enforcement could maintain order without the soldiers.
Abbott has deployed Texas National Guard troops to the Texas-Mexico border in Eagle Pass and Laredo as part of Operation Lone Star, his multibillion-dollar anti-illegal immigration enforcement action. However, he has never sent troops to San Antonio before this week.
