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Civil rights advocates, elected officials, attorneys and families affected by federal immigration enforcement gathered Tuesday at Our Lady of the Lake University to document what organizers described as the growing human and economic toll of immigration detention.
The People's Hearing on Immigration Enforcement in San Antonio brought together testimony from community members, legal experts and impacted families as part of a series of hearings held across the country to build a public record on immigration enforcement practices, detention conditions and their effects on communities.
San Antonio Mayor Gina Ortiz Jones opened the hearing by recalling the story of a mother who was taken into immigration custody while her children were at school.
"And can you imagine the kids after school, just waiting, not knowing what happened, not knowing who would come to take care of them?" Jones said, becoming emotional as she described the family's experience.
Former San Antonio Mayor Julián Castro, now CEO of the Latino Community Foundation, called current immigration enforcement policies a national emergency.
"We're here because we're witnessing a national crisis of cruelty that is being propagated by our federal government against some of the most vulnerable people in our nation," Castro said.
Part of the hearing focused on the financial costs of detention as well as its impact on families.
Daniel Hatoum, a senior supervising attorney with the Texas Civil Rights Project, said federal immigration detention is not only costly for families but also for taxpayers. He told attendees that detaining a family can cost the federal government hundreds of dollars per day, while community-based alternatives that rely on social workers cost roughly $12 to $16 per day.
"Now you may be wondering, what liberal think tank did Daniel get all these numbers from?" Hatoum said. "I got them from ICE. ICE's own budget numbers say that they know what the better policy is, but they refuse to do it and they refuse to enforce it."
Hatoum said he has consulted on more than 100 immigration habeas corpus petitions and that the vast majority involved people with no criminal record. Federal enforcement records analyzed through the Deportation Data Project show more than 38,100 people with no criminal convictions or pending criminal cases were taken into custody across Texas between February 2025 and February 2026.
He also described the legal obstacles families face when challenging detention, including the high cost of habeas petitions, difficulty locating detainees after transfers between facilities and limited opportunities for attorneys to communicate with clients.
Among those who testified was San Antonio resident Brandi Rahimi, whose husband, Shahrokh Rahimi, has lived in the United States for more than two decades after fleeing Iran. The couple has spent about $30,000 over the years pursuing legal avenues to allow him to remain in the country.
Rahimi said her husband was granted withholding of removal to Iran, allowing him to remain in the United States while seeking permission to relocate to a third country. But she said he was detained by Immigration and Customs Enforcement at their home in July, one day after Israeli strikes against Iran heightened his fears about being returned there.
"When the U.S. attacked Iran, he asked me if he should be worried," Rahimi said. "I told him, 'No, you have withholding of removal. You're not a criminal. Trump is going after the worst of the worst. He's not going after people that already have, like, a status. You're fine.' And then, lo and behold, a few hours later, ICE is at our door."
Shahrokh Rahimi has since been transferred between detention facilities and is now being held at the Karnes County Detention Center. Brandi Rahimi said the separation has taken a heavy emotional and physical toll on her husband and their family.
"He's lost 30 pounds since he's been there. He doesn't sleep. My daughter and I are suffering with his being separated from us. It's just every day is a daily struggle, having to support her, having to support him," she said.
Organizers said testimony from the San Antonio hearing will become part of a broader public record documenting the effects of federal immigration enforcement nationwide. Similar hearings have already been held in Minnesota, Chicago and Los Angeles this year.
Hatoum closed his testimony by urging attendees to continue advocating for alternatives to detention.
"We have to create a popular movement that makes smart policy the way that we go about our lives. That decentralizes detention and incarceration from people's lives, because when we do that, we not only benefit our neighbors, our loved ones, people out in the community, we benefit everyone in this country."
