PFLUGERVILLE, Texas — People in Pflugerville are demanding answers about a facility in their neighborhood believed to be a future operations hub for Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) to aid immigration enforcement efforts in Central Texas.
The City of Pflugerville said that the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) is leasing the property on Algreg Street near Rowe Lane and FM 685 for “office use.” The city directed KVUE to a spokesperson for DHS, who then told KVUE to contact ICE. KVUE has reached out to ICE to ask what exactly the facility is being used for, but the agency did not provide a response at the time of publication. On Saturday, two Federal Protective Service officers, a branch of DHS, sat in their patrol cars in front of the facility.
The Austin Party for Socialism and Liberation held a protest outside the facility on Saturday.
“This atrocity was constructed without public awareness because ICE knew that if people found out, the community would come out against it,” PSL organizer Peishi Cheng said. “We are opposed to this grotesque misuse of resources. Neighbors nearby were shocked when we informed them about this facility.”
Dozens of protestors called for transparency from federal and local officials on what is happening at the facility.
“We want answers from the local leaders who are supposed to know about this,” Cheng said. “What was the process by which that facility was able to be approved and put here?”
They believe the facility is a place for ICE to hold detainees in the future. PSL said they found out about the facility from community members who saw it under construction in the fall.
The group shared photos with KVUE of what they claimed was the inside of the facility in Pflugerville, which they said a community member gave them.
The photos show DHS and ICE logos on the walls and on signs, as well as what appears to be a detention and holding area, an interview room and a weapons room.
“A sign next to the door that said bin storage,” Cheng said. “They showed cells with toilets and sort of like a concrete bench. We also saw a room that was labeled interviews, which we interpret as an interrogation room.”
KVUE reached out to ICE and DHS on Saturday to verify whether these photos are from the Pflugerville facility, but a response was not received.
Records show Elmwood Capital Group has owned the property since 2022. Their website says they primarily focus on “procuring leases with the General Services Administration.” Their online projects page lists an 18,500-square-foot DHS facility in the Austin area.
The rally outside the facility lasted for about an hour Saturday afternoon, as protesters held signs and chanted.
“We will no longer accept their lies,” Scarleth Lopez said. “We shout that the blindfolds will not remain over our eyes. We reject the harshness of the anti-immigrant crackdown, not just the not just this harshness, but the whole foundation of racist lies upon which is built.”
For the most part, things were peaceful. One counter-protester, Will Johnson, showed up, leading to some tense exchanges as he walked up and down the street while the rally was going on, yelling into a megaphone.
“I am here fighting for my country,” Johnson said. “I am protesting against these illegals that are here in the United States of America, fighting against President Trump, fighting against ICE, fighting against the law.”
President Trump’s return to office has ushered in stricter immigration policies on a wide scale, leading to targeted immigration enforcement operations from coast to coast, including in Central Texas.
People tried to surround Johnson with signs and chants throughout the rally to block him out. Despite the distraction, the program and speakers pushed on.
“We’re a lawful country,” Johnson said. “We’re a constitutional republic, and I want to keep it that way.”
“If they’re here illegally in this country, they need to be deported,” Johnson added. “They need to be deported, plain and simple.”
Immigration raids have sparked fear in migrant communities.
“We are starting to see a lot more hate and discrimination against people that look like me,” Joanna Guerrero said. “I feel like we’re being profiled to be targeted because of how we look.”
Guerrero, who is an American citizen, said her parents were immigrants, so she understands the constant fear many families now feel with immigration enforcement operations ramping up.
“I feel like it right now it’s taking me back to those times,” Guerrero said. “It really is sad because you find yourself back in my childhood body just feeling that again.”
The event also included remarks from St. Andrew’s Presbyterian pastor Jim Rigby, who spoke out against the facility.
“I stand before you today as an American, as a Christian pastor, as an admirer of the great town of Pflugerville,” Rigby said. “We must work together from this day on until the stain of for-profit incarceration of human beings is purged from our city, state, nation and world.”
The PSL is now working to inform people of their rights as the immigration crackdown continues.
The Immigrant Legal Resource Center said that if a car is pulled over, only the driver is required to show ID. In most situations beyond that, the driver has a right to remain silent and doesn’t have to answer questions about their immigration status if asked. No one should ever provide false information.