San Antonio filed a federal lawsuit Tuesday seeking to halt development of a planned immigration detention facility on the East Side until federal authorities comply with environmental review requirements.
The lawsuit against the Department of Homeland Security and U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement seeks to stop the conversion of a nearly 640,000-square-foot warehouse acquired by ICE in January on Southeast Loop 410 into an immigration detention and processing facility capable of holding up to 1,500 people.
City Attorney Andy Segovia announced the legal action Tuesday morning alongside Mayor Gina Ortiz Jones and several City Council members, marking the city’s most significant effort yet to challenge the proposed facility.
The lawsuit centers on the National Environmental Policy Act, or NEPA, which requires federal agencies to assess the potential environmental effects of major projects before proceeding. The city is asking a federal judge to prevent DHS and ICE from moving forward with development until the required environmental review is completed.
Segovia said those reviews go beyond assessing air and water quality to consider how a project could affect the surrounding community, including its economy, history and culture.
“With a facility of this size and scope, within the core urban core of San Antonio, these sorts of reviews are even more critical,” Segovia said. “It’s very clear to see that there will be these impacts, and the law is there to make sure that those impacts are mitigated.”
The lawsuit follows months of unsuccessful attempts by city officials to obtain information about the conversion, development plans and potential environmental impacts of the facility.
Since February, city officials have sent five letters to DHS and ICE seeking details about the proposed facility, including environmental reviews, permitting requirements and opportunities for public input.
Federal officials responded to one letter in June, promising to coordinate with the city, seek community feedback and share engineering and design reports before beginning work.
But Jones said the city has received none of that information, even as ICE awarded a $17.3 million contract to GardaWorld Federal Services, a contractor involved in Florida’s controversial “Alligator Alcatraz” detention facility, to renovate the warehouse.
“We have been very patient with the federal authorities, in particular DHS and ICE, on this issue,” Jones said. “San Antonio is done waiting.”
What could the lawsuit accomplish?
While the lawsuit may not permanently stop ICE from opening the facility, city leaders hope the environmental review process will create enough obstacles for federal authorities to reconsider the project altogether.
“So while the legal action is to delay, our hope is that looking at the significant impact that facility may have, that the department makes their independent decision based on that information they obtain to do something different,” Segovia said.
Segovia said he expects the preliminary environmental assessment of the warehouse’s conversion to find significant impacts, potentially triggering a more extensive environmental impact study that could take months to complete.
District 2 Councilman Jalen McKee-Rodriguez, who represents the district where the proposed facility is located, pointed to other cities where concerns raised by local governments have prompted federal authorities to reconsider or cancel plans for immigration detention centers altogether.
“It has become clear, DHS has no intention of doing its due diligence,” McKee-Rodriguez said.
He said a review of the proposed facility would likely identify problems with its proximity to schools, parks and community centers, as well as the infrastructure needed to accommodate up to 1,500 people.
Those concerns have already prompted additional scrutiny from City Council.
Last week, council members directed city departments and local utilities to conduct independent assessments of how the facility could affect water, wastewater, electricity and emergency services in the surrounding area.
The studies could provide additional information to support the city’s legal challenge. Similar concerns about local water and power capacity have reportedly led ICE to abandon plans to convert two warehouses into processing facilities in Pennsylvania.
While most City Council members have supported the legal challenge, council members Marc Whyte (D10) and Misty Spears (D9) have criticized it as an expensive effort that will do little more than delay the facility.
“This is political theater, nothing more than political theater that, unfortunately, my colleagues and the mayor want to engage in,” Whyte said in an interview following the announcement.
Whyte disputed the likelihood that the lawsuit would lead ICE to abandon the facility, arguing that similar legal challenges elsewhere have merely delayed federal projects.
“That is what I anticipate is going to happen here. Sure, the federal government could decide that they don’t want to be in San Antonio,” Whyte said. “But it’s not going to be because of this lawsuit.”
Spears questioned why the city was raising environmental concerns about the ICE facility when it had not raised similar objections to the city’s former Migrant Resource Center.
“The double standard is glaring,” Spears said. “Suing the federal government for enforcing our nation’s immigration laws is political theater at taxpayers’ expense.”
Whyte estimated the lawsuit could cost the city $500,000 or more, arguing that money would be better spent on public safety and infrastructure.
Segovia declined to provide an estimated cost for the suit Tuesday, saying the city had shared preliminary figures with council members but that the final expense would depend on the federal government’s response and how far the litigation proceeds.
Jones defended the decision to pursue legal action despite the potential cost, arguing that the community deserves answers about the facility and its possible long-term economic effects.
“To the point of wasted money, you tell me what is the price tag for respect?” she said. “You’ve got to respect this community. Our community deserves to understand what is happening at that facility.”
DHS and ICE did not respond to a request for comment at the time of publication.
This story first appeared in the San Antonio Report.