FOCUS ON DETENTION WAREHOUSING

Photo of warehouse property at 542 SE Loop 410

ICE is spending $45 billion in taxpayer money to house humans in product warehouses.

Under its ICE Detention Reengineering Initiative, product warehouses will basically be converted into human ones. The goal, as ICE Acting Director Todd Lyons stated in 2025, is to create “(Amazon) Prime, but for human beings.”

A warehouse property at 542 SE Loop 410 in San Antonio, has already been purchased for $66.1 million, well beyond its assessed value of $37.6 million.

The San Antonio facility is one of 24 planned facilities nationwide. ICE already spent over $700 million to purchase nine of the 24 warehouses. Three will be “large scale” facilities, including one near El Paso, to hold 7,500 to 10,000 people for up to 60 days. The other six, including the one in San Antonio, will be “processing centers” to hold 1,000-1,500 people for five to seven days.

When done, ICE’s detention capacity will expand from an average of 72,000 to 96,000, despite record-breaking deaths within existing facilities. Since the start of Trump’s second term, more than 40 people have died in immigration detention, the highest number recorded in such a short period. Detainees and their legal representatives have recorded cases of abuse, rotten food, contaminated water, severe medical neglect and other disturbing conditions.

As of February 2026, almost 75 percent of the detained population had no criminal convictions.

Back in October 2025, the Trump Administration began funneling ICE funds through the Department of Defense, bypassing the normal bidding process. This means these facilities can be brought online faster than usual.

ICE has a bad reputation when it comes to “expedited construction.” The initial plan was to create “soft-sided” tent camps, such as the infamous “Camp East Montana” in El Paso, which opened in a matter of months despite dozens of violations. Within five months, there were three detainee deaths and more than 45 reports of abuse and injuries.

OPPOSITION

Opposition is broad and growing. The Ban Warehouse Detention Act, and its Senate companion End Warehouse Detention Act, are making their way through Congress. The US Conference of Mayors passed two emergency resolutions objecting to the plan.Though ICE claims to have studied all safety and infrastructure needs, local governments are skeptical. The planned mega-camp in Social Circle, Ga., would triple the town’s population. Officials there shut off the water supply until ICE illustrates how it plans to address the problem.

In Hutchins, Texas, (near Fort Worth) plans to convert a 1 million-square-foot warehouse from Majestic Realty and turn it into a holding center were thwarted after weeks of pushback from community members and city leaders. The company decided not to sell or lease the facility to DHS.

In San Antonio, several resident protests have been held. The mayor and city council have stated their opposition and are holding discussions on possible steps to prevent this. San Antonio District 2 City Councilman Jalen McKee-Rodriguez is pushing the city to pursue a lawsuit against the federal government using an argument that successfully halted construction in Maryland – ICE did not conduct the required environmental assessments. The San Antonio City Council amended local zoning codes to prevent detention centers from opening within 1,000 feet of homes, schools, places of worship and parks. (But federal facilities remain largely beyond local zoning control).

Facing increased scrutiny, DHS has recently paused the purchase of new warehouses. But those already acquired, such as El Paso and San Antonio, continue to be developed.

WHAT YOU CAN DO

Elected representatives are always on the alert for community concerns. This must be seen as one of them. Contact your federal, state and local (city/county) representatives and pressure them to oppose warehouse detention.