Officials say dozens were detained during the Wednesday afternoon operation.
SAN ANTONIO — A group of individuals were seen being detained and loaded onto white charter buses outside the federal courthouse in downtown San Antonio, including a young Cuban man whose mother said was taken away just as he was arriving for an immigration hearing Wednesday afternoon.
That 21-year-old Cuban man was one of four people who were seen being placed into handcuffs and led onto the buses in the area of South Santa Rosa and West Nueva. Speaking with KENS 5, his mother claimed he didn’t have a criminal record.
“My son had an appointment with an attorney and they took him without any explanation or anything,” she said. “When he got out of the car, they called him by his name and they were there waiting for him.”
A spokesperson with Immigration and Customs Enforcement said dozens of people were detained by agents as part of operations in the downtown area.
That spokesperson added that the enforcement actions represented the federal government “reversing (former President Joe) Biden’s catch-and-release policy that allowed millions of unvetted illegal aliens to be let loose on American streets.”
“Most aliens who illegally entered the United States within the past two years are subject to expedited removals,” ICE said. “ICE is now following the law and placing these illegal aliens in expedited removal, as they always should have been.”
It’s unknown exactly how quickly those detained will be deported, nor the countries they’ll be sent to.
In April 2021, the Biden administration announced it would be scaling back immigration arrests at courthouses. Then-Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas said at the time that the practice of courthouse arrests discouraged people from attending court hearings.
The new administration has reversed course once more as President Donald Trump makes good on a core campaign promise, and as the federal government touts the arrests and deportations of those accused of having entered the country illegally.
Dallas saw similar arrests last week; sources told our sister station WFAA that individuals from Cuba, Venezuela and Haiti were taken into custody May 21 and 22 after appearing for scheduled immigration court hearings. Some ICE agents conducting those arrests were dressed in plain clothes and protective vests, sources said.
ICE officials said anyone with “a valid, credible fear claim” will remain in the U.S. during legal proceedings.
“But if no valid claim is found,” the agency said, “aliens will be subject to a swift deportation.”
This is a developing story.