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South Texas Congressman Henry Cuellar said he is pressing for details from U.S. Department of Homeland Security about a newly acquired East Side warehouse in San Antonio that will become a major ICE immigration holding site.
Speaking to reporters Wednesday, the Democrat said he met with White House and U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials and questioned how the purchase was funded and when the facility would begin holding detainees.
“It came from the 'Big, Beautiful Bill' where they added $75 billion,” Cuellar said, arguing the money did not flow through the typical congressional pathway — annual appropriations — and instead is being used for real-estate purchases and retrofits.
Cuellar said he asked ICE to provide a timeline for construction and conversion work needed to adapt the building to hold roughly 1,500 people, and to explain when detainees might start arriving.
“I specifically asked them to get back to me to get me information on what they’re doing on the East Side, what they’re doing in McAllen,” he said. Cuellar added that, so far, he has not received answers.
Currently the warehouse lacks the necessary bathrooms and other amenities to support housing so many people. It’s been documented at other ICE migrant holding facilities that there are “inhumane conditions” with overflowing toilets, a lack of clean drinking water, substandard heat and air conditioning and a shortage of beds.
The warehouse, known as Oakmont 410, is a roughly 640,000-square-foot facility at 542 S.E. Loop 410. ICE has closed on the property and intends to convert it into a “processing center” where migrants would be held temporarily before transfers to other detention sites and deportation proceedings.
Opposition to the ICE warehouse is growing due to concerns that the site is near a school, homes and community spaces. Elected leaders on the East Side — including San Antonio City Council member Jalen McKee-Rodriguez — have warned that placing a large-scale detention operation in the area could harm neighborhood stability and deter investment.
Bexar County Commissioner Tommy Calvert has called on city and county leaders to explore legal options, including whether federal requirements such as environmental review could provide grounds to seek an injunction.
But officials also acknowledge they have little direct authority to stop the project. Because the property is owned or leased by the federal government, the city generally does not have zoning control over how it is used — a reality that has frustrated local leaders as the deal moved forward.
Cuellar is the top Democrat on the House Appropriations Subcommittee on Homeland Security, a panel that shapes DHS funding each year.
Cuellar argues the San Antonio warehouse purchase appears tied to broader DHS/ICE expansion funding approved outside the regular appropriations process — a point also raised in recent reporting describing the administration’s rapid buildout of detention capacity using “Big, Beautiful Bill” funds.
For now, Cuellar says he is waiting for ICE to provide basic details — construction schedules, operational plans and a start date for housing migrants.
Meanwhile local activists and officials are considering what, if anything, they can do to halt or delay the project.
