To the Texas Delegation Representing San Antonio:
I respectfully request that you vote against any funding bill that would allocate resources for the proposed 640,000 square-foot facility reportedly acquired by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) at 542, SE Loop 410, Access Road, San Antonio, Texas.
I vigorously oppose this facility in our community - or in any community, for that matter.
To date, neither my office nor the city staff has received formal notification regarding the purchase of the large facility. Our community deserves transparency around the proposed ICE facility and any activities there.
Some have suggested this proposed ICE facility is a jobs opportunity, and I think that is insulting and inaccurate. I would offer a better way to increase jobs: eliminate the tariffs that have driven up costs in our community, and reverse the proposed cuts to Medicare, Medicaid, CHIP and SNAP as part of the One Big Beautiful Bill Act. Such steps would actually help people.
Placing an ICE facility on our Eastside, an already economically depressed part of our community, would further negatively affect the local economy and hamper its ability to attract the type of good-paying jobs our constituents need and deserve.
I welcome a conversation to discuss more strategic ways to enhance the economic development of our city. To be perfectly clear, we do not want this ICE facility in our community, and ask that you please not fund it.
Respectfully,
Gina Ortiz Jones
Mayor of San Antonio
Editor's Note: The above letter was penned by San Antonio Mayor Gina Ortiz Jones on Feb. 11, 2026, and sent to U.S. Senators John Cornyn and Ted Cruz and U.S. members of Congress that represent San Antonio. Ortiz Jones is a leader within the South Texas Alliance of Cities, which includes many Rio Grande Valley cities.
