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San Antonio City Council is preparing to hold a public discussion Jan. 22 about how the San Antonio Police Department coordinates with state and federal immigration authorities, amid rising tensions over federal enforcement actions and community protests.
District 1 Councilmember Sukh Kaur announced the planned meeting in a social media video, saying council members want to be transparent about how SAPD works with outside agencies and federal immigration enforcement. Residents will be invited to speak during the public comment period, which is expected to begin at 1 p.m. An official agenda has not yet been released.
“We hope that we can all have a good conversation about what we’re required to do, but making sure we’re still keeping all members of our community safe,” Kaur said.
The protests here and across the United States were held in the wake of the fatal shooting of Renée Nicole Good by a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agent in Minneapolis.
The announcement comes as San Antonio has seen several demonstrations tied to federal immigration activity.
On Saturday, hundreds marched through downtown’s Main Plaza in protest of actions by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, calling for accountability and expressing fear about enforcement tactics following a widely publicized fatal shooting of Renée Nicole Good by an ICE agent in Minneapolis.
Over 100 people came out to protest Monday evening on the corner of San Pedro Avenue and Basse Road. That was the location of a multi-agency law-enforcement operation involving Texas Department of Public Safety troopers, San Antonio police, and federal immigration authorities early Sunday morning.
In November, more than 100 residents also gathered near San Pedro and Basse after a large-scale federal immigration enforcement operation in the area, decrying the raids and demanding community protections.
Under Texas law, San Antonio police are required to cooperate with federal immigration authorities in certain situations, even though department policy limits officers from enforcing immigration law or detaining people based solely on their status.
In a statement following President Donald Trump’s 2025 inauguration, the city of San Antonio said that SAPD will cooperate with the federal government on immigration as long as Trump’s plans follow the law.
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