A Chilling Tour of San Antonio’s Immigration Enforcement Machine

Welcome back to ICE Watch. This month join me on a virtual ICE chaser tour! We know San Antonio, Texas, is one of the most active cities in the U.S. for ICE detentions (following Miami, Dallas, and Atlanta). But so much of that landscape is still largely invisible to residents. This tour won’t be a joyride, but hopefully it'll be an eye-opening recorrido through our city.

We’ll take note of the places and elements that put ICE enforcement on the map. Here we’ll reveal many of the not-so-hidden coordinates of the deportation machine to help you identify just how widespread the machine has become. We intend to make visible how local and state leaders have allowed the quiet, yet persistent and increasingly prevalent, kidnappings of our community members.

In this installment of ICE Watch, I draw a geography of state-sponsored fear to help us all keep up with this fast-shifting and frequently terrifying terrain.

—Roxana Rojas

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I spy with my little eye…

As children we played this game in the car on family road trips. It helped distract bouncy minds from whatever our elders wanted us to forget about (for me it was usually a catalog of “what’s that place?” questions, “where are we?” and “how much longer?”). It forced us back into the present moment and made us more aware of our surroundings.

I challenge you now to survey your surroundings as you go about town and ask yourself what you see. It may be something that’s looking back at you? Scanning your face? Reading your gait? Clocking your license plates and turning you into a time stamp on a data set? Widely decried ALPRs, or Automatic License Plate Readers, are an all-too-common device on area roadways. But what are they, and how have they suddenly crept into our lives—leeching off our data and creating a system of surveillance that has resulted in the arrest of innocent individuals and, in some cases, violent encounters?

“I spy something…that starts with the letter F.”

The principal provider of ALPRs nationally is Flock Safety. This company went from providing private security to large-scale surveillance of the public through its contracts with law enforcement agencies across the country. (On the interactive map below, you can click on the timeline and see the boom of cameras surge in San Antonio around the summer of last year).

While information gathered by these cameras was originally only accessible through warrant searches, this data is now being captured, stored, and sold in package deals. SAPD has hosted 20 Flock cameras since July 2025, along with additional cameras owned and acquired at the same time by Selma PD, Castle Hills PD, Converse PD, and Live Oak PD. Alamo Heights PD has had ALPRs from Vigilant Solutions since 2019. And Balcones Heights PD was first awarded a grant for ALPRs in 2022.

San Antonio PD has its own additional contracts with a similar company, Axon, for body cameras, dash cameras, and the accompanying software and storage of data captured. Though lesser known in the ALPR game, Axon is increasingly stepping in where Flock cameras have been damaged or opposed. So where are these cameras in San Antonio? How can we spot them, and—perhaps more importantly—how can we take back control of our privacy?

Take a look at this map:

*Click through to explore. Via* *deflock.org*.

Zooming into San Antonio you'll find there are 190 ALPRs listed, with 94 percent of them being Flock cameras. It is increasingly difficult to detect them when on the road, as they are now being integrated into seemingly innocuous and common objects such as traffic barrels and speed monitors. Many are mounted on existing street infrastructure such as traffic lights and lamp posts.

This week was the National Week of Action Against ALPRs, and for ways to protect yourself and your privacy as well as ways to oppose these cameras near you, migrate to the resources section of this newsletter. There I list additional ways to resist and resources to discover how police surveillance technology is being used near you.

What is the connection between these APLRs and immigration enforcement?

At the end of last year, Texas DMV officials changed ID requirements for vehicle registrations after coming under pressure from State Representative Brian Harrison (R-Midlothian). Specifically, the DMV made it impossible for individuals to register a vehicle in Texas without proof of legal status. The effort was backed by Texas Gov. Greg Abbott and voted up unanimously by the board of the TxDMV.

We know that Abbott’s administration is more than willing to share information with the U.S. Department of Homeland Security that can lead to detention of immigrants. And it is clear that ALPRs are contributing to the tracking of vehicles on roadways and feeding that data back to the federal government. In just this past week, I can attest to four different cases in which an immigration stop was made by ICE (not SAPD or DPS) and the reason for the stop was vehicle registration to a person with no proof of status. One can only suspect that given the number of targeted detentions (by ICE and Enforcement and Removal Operations, or ERO) on roadways in San Antonio (with no traffic violation or crime to speak of) that there is a connection between the ALPRs, vehicle registration information, and immigration enforcement operations.

One such case hit very close to home. Selene Garcia, a resident of San Antonio for over a decade, is a student, local artist, organizer, and language justice worker. Well known by SA Stands Coalition members like the Southwest Workers Union, Texas Organizing Project, and many others, Garcia has been an active member of the San Antonio social justice spaces for many years. Earlier this month on a Sunday morning that feels like an eternity ago, Garcia and her family loaded up her dad’s work truck and headed out for what was supposed to be a family fun day at the river. Hoping to enjoy the last remaining days of summer before school, Garcia, her younger brother, and both parents were robbed of a joyful farewell to summer. Instead they were met with a terrifying family separation that has upended their family and caused immeasurable suffering.

On August 9, only blocks away from their East Side home, an unmarked pickup truck followed the family until flipping on the flashing lights. Garcia’s father, Octavio Garcia, pulled over fearing the worst. It was at that moment that both Garcia and her mother began recording. Two ICE officers and one ERO officer demanded he exit his vehicle, provided no explanation for the stop, pulled him out of the vehicle, and handcuffed him. In a matter of minutes Selene’s father was sitting in the back of the pickup truck and gone. The reason given: the plates showed registration to a person without status.

*Selene Garcia and family in happier times. Courtesy Photo*

“This is like experiencing death in life. I know my dad is healthy and OK, but it is a shock to us. Knowing of his impending deportation I wonder: Is there life here for us after this? There’s no point living here if we are living in the fear that this could happen again.”

— Selene Garcia

Other Stops on a San Antonio Tour of ICE Terror

Crosspoint - San Antonio Field Office (3523 Crosspoint, San Antonio, TX 78217)

This facility is typically where individuals who have been taken by ICE are processed before being taken to a detention center. (Mr. Garcia's last location tracked through his phone was near this facility.) This is also where people being monitored by an ATD (Alternatives to Detention) program—like Intensive Supervision Appearance Program (ISAP), which uses ankle monitors, or GPS tracking by phone—have to go in order to ensure compliance with their enrollment. Individuals who are required to check-in physically to demonstrate compliance with the requirements of their release from custody also present themselves at this location.

San Antonio is currently 4th nationally in the number of detentions, so this is a busy place. While this is a hub for ICE, ERO, and other immigration operations agencies, it is also a site of a small-but-mighty resistance and support network. The Comrade Coffee Collective and several other area organizations have a rotation of volunteers that are present Monday through Friday every week offering support and accompaniment for those attending check-ins. They provide information for family members searching for information regarding a taken loved one, snacks and water for the long wait, and even toys for children. Deceleration recently spoke with CCC members about this important work. (See our video below.)

Warehouse - Proposed Detention Facility (542 SE Loop 410 Access Road, San Antonio, TX 78220)

This property on the East Side of San Antonio was purchased by ICE to be converted into an immigration detention facility. That conversion is being contested by a broad swath of the local community who have labeled it a future “concentration camp.” The 640,000-square-foot building is expected to be retrofitted to hold 1,500 individuals and is estimated to open in February 2027. Community organizations, coalitions and individual San Antonio residents have shown up in numbers to prevent the opening of this facility. Hundreds of residents showed up just two weekends ago at the Immigration Town Hall event hosted by the SA Stands Coalition. The standing-room-only event drew in folks who wanted to learn more about the warehouse plans as well as how to help oppose it.

Bexar County Sheriff and County Jail (200 N Comal St, San Antonio, TX 78207)

Through a 287(g) agreement, the county jail has a warrant service officer that has been deputized to serve and execute administrative warrants to individuals in custody. This means that individuals can be held and transferred to ICE custody from the jail.

ICE/ERO Office (1777 NE Loop 410. Floor 15. San Antonio, TX 78217)

This is an ICE/ERO administrative office, more specifically the San Antonio field office for Central Texas.

GEO Group Central Regional Office (1777 NE Loop 410, Suite 1100, San Antonio, TX 78217)

This is an administrative office for private-profit detention operator GEO Group, which is raking in hundreds of millions of dollars in profit from its contracts with ICE.

USCIS Field Office (20760 N US Hwy 281, San Antonio, TX 78258)

United States Citizenship and Immigration Services interviews individuals with pending applications and collects biometric data.

USCIS Asylum Office (106 S. St. Mary St., 7th Floor San Antonio, TX 78205)

Asylum interviews are now also being held in San Antonio with the opening of this new asylum office.

San Antonio International Airport (9800 Airport Blvd, San Antonio, TX 78216)

All airports are considered ports of entry, so U.S. Customs and Border Protection has jurisdiction here. Airports are an area of risk with increasing ICE and ERO activity. Airlines have also been reported to collaborate with ICE for detentions with passenger information provided by TSA.

Shelters for Unaccompanied Minors (Various Locations)

These shelters operate under contractors from various locations; there are at least three in San Antonio. They hold an increasing number of children due to the increase in targeted enforcement on youth as well as deliberate family separation tactics.

Immigration Court (800 Dolorosa St #300, San Antonio, TX 78207)

Individuals in removal proceedings who have been called to court through a Notice to Appear (NTA) attend scheduled court appearances before an immigration judge at this location. Last summer this location was the site of many harrowing scenes of family separations as ICE was using the courts as a location for easy targets. A court order ceased those operations, but the fear of attending court remains. American Gateways has consistently been present to provide court observation, accompaniment, and Know Your Rights information. They currently have an office at the court where individuals can obtain legal orientation information.

Information Sources (Various)

DHS has also weaponized several databases for enforcement operations. This includes TSA records, as mentioned above, as well as information gathered by the Office of Refugee Resettlement on sponsors for unaccompanied children; from pending applications with USCIS including those with (or who previously held) DACA status (Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals) and TPS (Temporary Protected Status); from the IRS via ITIN taxpayer information; and from housing assistance programs administered by HUD. Even hospitals in Texas now have a mandatory intake question regarding legal status. These are just some of the ways different federal agencies gather information for immigration enforcement.

DPS, SAPD, and other Local Municipality PDs (Various)

With 287(g) requirements and now with SB4 in effect, any law enforcement agency in Texas can enforce immigration law. That means that ICE is not needed to detain, process, or deport individuals found to be present without status. We have already seen arrests under SB4 in localities such as China Grove.

Editor's Note: Deceleration will be building an interactive map of ICE operations in Bexar County. Watch for that in coming days at Deceleration.news.

Understanding our ‘Landscape of Fear’

I do not intend in this analysis to reinforce the technofascist state’s narrative of total power, carefully built through propaganda, fearmongering, and overt violence. Rather, understanding our environment in this way is vital to our survival and safety. Within the field of ecology, a landscape of fear is understood by mapping the behavior of predators as well as prey’s perception of predation risk. Here too, we know there is no single or monolithic threat at work, and that our landscape is organized by more than the single dichotomy of state vs community. We know this immigration enforcement environment is comprised of a complex array of factors, including AI and surveillance technology that are often embedded in our everyday lives (often unbeknownst to us). We know also that it thrives in the shift from covert and systemic racism to overt white supremacist policy.

As we continue our mapping into the future, we do so to better understand how power operates in our state and our city—to become aware of the different spaces that state violence occupies, and how its presence influences how we are able to move. This is how we can anticipate unsafe conditions. Better yet, these understandings give us the tools to change them.

I spy with my little eye…something melting.

RESOURCES

VIDEO

ICE Watch Correspondent Roxana Rojas and Deceleration Creative Editor Marisol Cortez visit the ICE Processing Center known as Crosspoint to speak to the Comrade Coffee Collective and their efforts to provide information and accompaniment to individuals visiting the site in compliance with their immigration cases. Follow Deceleration on YouTube.

EVENTS

*Comrade Coffee Collective: Crosspoint (San Antonio) Mutual Aid and ICE Observation Training*

Venceremos Benefit Brunch & Bake Sale

Buy zines, food plates, baked goods and build community in solidarity with a family separated by ICE. All proceeds go directly to support the beloved Garcia family.

August 22, 12pm-4pm
902 Clark Ave. San Antonio 78210

San Antonio Alliance - Constitutional Observer Training
- August 29, 2026, 10am-11:30am
- See information and register here
PLUS: Support Local Interpreter's Family Impacted by Immigration Enforcement
- Urgent Mutual Aid Request for the Delgado Family of San Antonio whose family member and sole provider was taken by ICE on Sunday, August 9.
- Venmo @harpcherub CashApp:$harpcherub

More events at Deceleration's Bioregional Events Calendar.