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A vacant East Side warehouse along Loop 410 is poised to become a major federal immigration holding site. U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement has acquired the 640,000-square-foot building known as Oakmont 410 — a move that local officials said could threaten the surrounding neighborhood.
The building, at 542 S.E. Loop 410, was marketed as the city’s largest industrial warehouse when ground was broken in 2022, according to a press release from the project’s developer. But ICE has now closed on the property and intends to convert it into a roughly 1,500-bed “processing center,” where detainees would be held temporarily before transfer to other detention facilities and eventual deportation proceedings.
Opposition has centered on the site’s proximity to residential areas and a nearby school. District 2 San Antonio Councilman Jalen McKee-Rodriguez has argued the project sends the wrong signal for an area seeking redevelopment and family-focused investment.
Precinct 4 Bexar County Commissioner Tommy Calvert — whose precinct includes the warehouse — has been one of the most forceful critics of the project, warning it could damage the East Side’s economic prospects and the city’s image.
Calvert said ICE “has not followed an environmental impact study,” arguing that local governments should consider legal action “to file an injunction” if required federal process has not been followed. He pointed to other cities that have used environmental review requirements to slow or block projects, saying such studies can force federal officials to account for impacts on nearby residents — including schoolchildren.
Calvert also raised public-health concerns tied to detention conditions and the risk of communicable disease. “I believe that the measles outbreak in Dilley means that this community must be protected,” he said, adding that he did not want local residents “impacted by the lack of public health” or by “inhumane treatment of people without enough bathroom facilities.”
Calvert framed the project as part of a broader enforcement posture. “The administration has shown that cruelty and punishment is the point,” he said. But he also argued the city may still have leverage over utilities and safety standards.
“They still have to get power and water from the city of San Antonio,” Calvert said, calling those “leverage points” that could be used “until they abide by our health and safety standards.”
He suggested city leaders should evaluate their options under local public health and safety rules — including, he said, whether authorities can “turn the water off, turn the power off,” citing other cities that have used utility access as pressure in disputes over large facilities.
In a statement San Antonio District 7 Councilwoman Marina Alderete Gavito said “With one of the largest Latino populations in the country, we cannot ignore the threat to our community’s well-being posed by ICE opening a warehouse-sized detention center — particularly when we have seen broad sweeps that pick up not just so-called ‘criminals,’ but women and even infants.”
“I support every effort to ensure our community has the tools to understand and defend their constitutional rights, and to speak out clearly and collectively against these injustices,” she added.
Two San Antonio-area members of Congress also weighed in, issuing a joint statement opposing any expansion of detention operations in the city. “We should be closing down the facilities where children and families are being held in inhumane conditions— not building more of them,” the statement said.
The two Democratic lawmakers argued that warehouses being branded as “processing centers” are “just another way for the administration to indiscriminately lock people up and give the profits to its cronies,” adding: “We strongly oppose any expansion of ICE’s presence in San Antonio, and we will fight with every tool available to prevent it.”
Even if the site’s prior zoning designation was industrial, local leverage may be limited because federal property and operations are not subjected to local land-use control. The federal government generally does not have to adhere to local zoning and permitting requirements. However, disputes can still arise over utility hookups, inspections tied to fire and life safety, and compliance with applicable federal environmental laws.
The proposed San Antonio processing center is being discussed locally in the context of a much larger national expansion. In late December, The Washington Post reported that ICE documents described a “hub” model that would convert industrial warehouses into regional detention and processing sites — including smaller facilities designed for up to 1,500 detainees — aimed at speeding removals and reducing transport bottlenecks.
Separately, the American Civil Liberties Union said recent documents obtained through FOIA litigation show ICE evaluating multiple potential new detention locations, with the released records including factors such as transportation access and proximity to hospitals, immigration courts and legal services.
Calvert said the lack of transparency around acquisitions and planning has fueled distrust. “So much is happening in the shadows,” he said, arguing that “government is supposed to be accountable for how taxpayer dollars are spent” and calling for stronger congressional inspection authority.
