Here's how SAPD does — and doesn't — work with ICE
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Protesters in June in downtown San Antonio. Photo: Brandon Bell/Getty Images
As anger mounts against ICE in San Antonio and other major cities, the role local law enforcement plays in working with federal agents is under increased scrutiny.
Why it matters: Tensions have been building since federal agents killed Alex Pretti in Minneapolis on Saturday — less than a month after the shooting of Renee Good — and after a 5-year-old boy was detained there last week and sent to a family detention center south of San Antonio.
- Dozens of immigrant families protested inside the facility over the weekend. And hundreds have protested in downtown San Antonio this month.
The latest: District 7 Councilmember Marina Alderete Gavito on Friday said the city should develop a way for residents to report civil rights violations by ICE. For now, she said, residents should contact SAPD with any such complaints, since those calls are already documented.
- "We need this information centralized, tracked, and managed by the City of San Antonio so we can determine the scope and potentially act," Alderete Gavito said in a statement.
We broke down some common questions about ICE and area law enforcement.
How do San Antonio police work with ICE?
San Antonio police are required under state law to cooperate with federal agencies, meaning they help and offer security on scene when federal officials ask them to. But they don't enforce immigration laws themselves.
- If ICE requests it, SAPD will notify the federal agency before releasing someone arrested on certain lower level charges. That request is called a detainer.
By the numbers: Of the more than 51,000 SAPD arrests last year, ICE issued detainers to 111 people, per city data.
- In 2025, SAPD says, it dispatched 258 calls that resulted in reports including the word "immigration." 161, or 62%, of those had no federal involvement.
What has ICE been doing in San Antonio?
In November, a new multi-agency task force comprising federal and state agencies said it arrested about 140 undocumented immigrants in a raid on the North Side. San Antonio police later confirmed they provided perimeter security.
- Last year, ICE arrested immigrants outside the courthouse in downtown San Antonio.
Do agencies other than SAPD work with ICE?
The Bexar County Sheriff's Office has signed a 287(g) agreement with ICE, a formal partnership for local law enforcement to cooperate on immigration arrests and detentions.
- Texas law now requires counties, but not cities, to participate.
- Bexar County's agreement is under the Warrant Service Officer program, which allows ICE to train and authorize deputies to serve warrants on undocumented immigrants in the county jail.
Zoom out: Other area law enforcement agencies with 287(g) agreements include the Balcones Heights Police Department, the Ingram Police Department in Kerr County and the New Berlin Marshal's Office.
What do ICE operations look like across Texas?
ICE operations in Texas have been much less prominent than in Minneapolis, Los Angeles, New York or Chicago — all liberal cities in states with Democratic governors.
- The biggest raids in Texas have taken place in Houston, where ICE said it deported more than 500 people in the metro area in one week in May.
By the numbers: ICE arrests across Texas were up to an average of 176 per day in the first six months of Trump's second term, a jump from 85 per day in the last 18 months of the Biden administration, per a Texas Tribune analysis.