Federal immigration authorities are moving ahead with a large detention facility on San Antonio’s east side, awarding a $17.3 million contract on Thursday to GardaWorld Federal Services despite months of objections from the city’s mayor and local activist groups.
The contract requires the company to renovate an existing warehouse of more than 600,000 square feet that U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement purchased in early February for more than $66 million. Once operational, the site will hold up to 1,500 detainees awaiting deportation.
The award covers full wraparound services needed to run the facility, including detainee care and safekeeping, facility management and administration, food service, armed transportation, and security operations, all of which must meet ICE detention standards.
Granted through a Navy contracting program, the initial fixed-price contract runs from the date of award through August 25, 2027, with the full $17.3 million committed upfront for the first year. The delivery order, listed as 70CDCR26FR0000103 in the federal SAM.gov database, is part of a broader multi-year contract capped at slightly more than $1 billion.
Mayor’s Objections Rejected
San Antonio Mayor Gina Ortiz Jones had pushed back against the project, writing to Department of Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin in April to ask him to reconsider the plans.
“My community is not interested in hosting an ICE processing facility.”
Ortiz Jones also raised concerns in the letter about the city being left out of the loop, writing, “Despite numerous attempts, neither my office nor the city staff have received formal notification regarding ICE’s reported purchase and potential use of a 640,000+ square foot warehouse located at 542 SE Loop 410 Access Rd, San Antonio, Texas.”
The objections did not alter federal plans for the site.
Protests and Security Measures
Local activist groups, including the San Antonio chapter of the Party for Socialism and Liberation, have staged repeated demonstrations at the warehouse in an effort to pressure ICE into abandoning the project. In response, ICE installed perimeter security fencing around the property to keep protesters off federal land.
Why San Antonio
The location gives ICE quick access to infrastructure needed for detention and removal operations. Brooke Army Medical Center, a Level I Trauma Center, sits roughly 5 miles from the site, and San Antonio International Airport is less than 15 miles away, allowing for efficient movement of detainees by air. Nearly 30 major hospitals operate in the San Antonio area overall.
Land ports of entry in Eagle Pass and Laredo, both less than 200 miles from the warehouse, add further options for repatriating detainees by land, reinforcing the site’s role in the broader deportation pipeline along the Texas border corridor.
