Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and Customs and Border Patrol (CBP) do important work to keep us safe by stopping drugs from coming over the border, protecting us from criminals who are selling those drugs, and ensuring counterfeit goods don’t undermine our economy. But the horrors that we’ve seen from ICE under this administration are due to poor leadership at the top and poor training, and we must rein in the agency until safeguards can be put into place so that ICE can regain the trust of the American people.
ICE officers are detaining child care workers while children are being dropped off, pulling children out of their beds in the middle of the night in an Army-style raid, and deporting U.S. citizen children, including one battling Stage 4 cancer. They claim they are going after the worst offenders, but nearly 75% of people detained by ICE have no criminal convictions, according to the CATO institute. Last week, more than 150 community members shared their concerns and interactions with ICE at a special session of the City Council. People in our community are being harmed and we must take action.
Citizens fill the city council chambers, waiting to participate in a city council special session to discuss SAPD’s cooperation with federal agents on immigration enforcement on Jan. 22, 2026. Credit: Amber Esparza / San Antonio Report
What we have seen — the killings of Renee Good and Alex Pretti, the use of children to bait their undocumented parents resulting in their detention, the blatant disregard for one’s right to peacefully protest — is the result of an untrained organization ill-equipped to do the basic job of law enforcement; to keep Americans safe while enforcing our laws. Their actions are resulting in an immigration and customs enforcement organization that has lost the trust and confidence of too many Americans to be effective.
Like many of my neighbors, I completely agree that we need immigration enforcement to remove violent criminals who entered our country illegally. I completely agree that we need a customs enforcement entity focused on protecting American intellectual property and protecting Americans from counterfeit goods, such as those coming in from the People’s Republic of China. The last thing we need is counterfeit medications introduced into our health care system, posing a threat to our country’s health, economy and security. These are all common-sense things we know we need our immigration and customs enforcement resources focused on.
However, continuing to allow a federal law enforcement entity that mocks the Constitution while exercising excessive and lethal force to operate in our communities — seemingly because they lack sufficient training to de-escalate situations — absent significant accountability reforms is inexcusable.
We are a nation of laws, and as Mayor, I am committed to following our state and federal laws. That does not preclude me or other elected leaders from holding bad behavior accountable. Moreover, as throughout our history, when laws are not being followed in their spirit and intent, our system assumes that we, the people, and our elected leaders will have the courage to exercise the checks and balances that make our democracy strong.
Providing funding without strong guardrails to an organization whose tactics and rhetoric sow fear and distrust in our people, irrespective of their immigration status, only weakens our communities. This week, Congress has the opportunity to rein in ICE’s tactics, and I urge them to take this action. I agree with what Gov. Greg Abbott said, the White House needs to “recalibrate” ICE. And I believe future funding should be based on how well they do so.
In the meantime, an estimated 100,000 undocumented folks live in our community. According to the Migration Policy Institute, nearly half have been in our country for over 20 years, with nearly one-third working in construction or the services industry. Our undocumented neighbors cannot be extracted from our community; they are part of the fabric of what makes our community great.
As taxpayers, we are funding ICE’s $85 billion budget, up from $6 billion a decade ago. A better use of a portion of that money is expediting the processing of the applications for those, with no violent criminal backgrounds, seeking legal status in our country. Only that solution allows these folks to fully, and without fear, contribute to our economy in a way that we need. Moreover, that approach treats our undocumented neighbors the way that we would want to be treated: as fellow human beings worthy of dignity and respect.