This story has been updated.
The Drug Enforcement Administration on Monday confirmed to the San Antonio Report that it assisted the U.S. Department of Homeland Security and other federal law enforcement partners with their immigration enforcement efforts in San Antonio on Sunday.
“We can confirm that The DEA Houston division assisted DHS with their targeted enforcement actions on Sunday. We’ve assisted in several cities to include Austin, Houston, San Antonio, Brownsville, Laredo and McAllen,” said DEA spokeswoman Sally Sparks.
Reports of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) raids began after President Donald Trump vowed to deport “millions and millions” of immigrants back to their home countries in his inaugural address last week and began signing a flurry of executive orders.
Those orders include sending more active duty troops to help with border barriers and removal flights; opening the door to arrests in schools, churches and hospitals; and clearing the way for authorities to begin removing migrants who were legally admitted to the U.S. under the previous administration.
ICE did not respond to questions about the number of people arrested or number of targeted operations conducted.
As rumors about the situation spread quickly online, Miguel Vergara, a field office director for ICE’s enforcement and removal operations sought to clear up confusion Monday night about what the agency is and isn’t doing.
“We target only individuals with criminal records. … Convictions, gang members, national security, anybody like that who poses a threat to you or me, my family or your family,” Vergara said at a Northside neighborhood meeting hosted by Councilman Marc Whyte. “We don’t do checkpoints, raids, or zone enforcement.”
Vergara said he met with San Antonio Police Chief William McManus earlier in the day, and that his agency is focused heavily on detaining people from jails, because it makes for safer handoffs.
They’re also doing targeted searches with other law enforcement agencies for certain dangerous individuals, and now have the authority to detain others in the process if there’s reason to suspect those people pose a threat.
“If we find somebody who is not supposed to be here, but it was not the person we were targeting, we are at liberty to take them, but it’s up to us,” he said. “We’re looking for the targeted individuals because our resources are limited… So we look for the worst of the worst first.”
Asked whether that work could take ICE agents into schools, churches or other previously off-limits locations, Vergara said it was highly unlikely.
“A public school, a high school… No, we’re not doing it. It’s too much,” he said. “We’re talking (about the) risk of panic…There is no need for that… It will have to be something completely catastrophic, something where allowing that person to be there will pose a far more existential danger… than us going in there.”
On Sunday, Gov. Greg Abbott posted on X that troopers and special agents with the Texas Department of Public Safety were deployed across the state that day to assist the DHS with targeted operations to arrest undocumented immigrants.
Those operations will expand this week, Abbott posted.
The San Antonio Police Department confirmed on Monday that it would comply with laws that allow local law enforcement to arrest people whom they suspect have entered the country illegally, but would not say whether the police took part in any targeted operations on Sunday.
“We will do what is required by law to comply with SB 4, to comply with the president’s executive order on immigration, and that’s our bottom line,” McManus said to the roughly 150 people Monday at the District 10 meeting.
“I’ve had folks come in from the ACLU, other community organizations and ask me to speak out against that, take a position against it, and I told them I would not do that,” he said to applause.
Bexar County Sheriff’s Office hasn’t responded to a request for comment on its involvement in any raids or arrests this weekend.
Over the weekend, multiple people organized protests on the streets of San Antonio as fears of deportation raids increased in the days since Trump was sworn in for his second term.
On the South Side, San Antonians held up Mexican flags and posters, some which said, “No one is illegal on stolen land.”
In downtown, more groups formed at the San Antonio Liberation Center to hear from attorneys and immigration advocates. At another spot downtown at Milam Park, more protesters gathered to “stand for those who can’t,” in response to the promise of mass deportations targeting immigrants.
Local leaders and people who serve migrant communities are working to help residents in need of assistance with preparing official documents and who may need legal consultation. Read more about those efforts here.
