Marc Whyte
Role at the time: San Antonio City Council member for District 10
Response to this claim
DHS and ICE violated the National Environmental Policy Act and the Administrative Procedure Act by buying the Loop 410 warehouse and awarding a contract to convert it into a detention facility without an environmental review.
“What you’ve seen in other cities is it’s been delayed by some period of time where then the federal government’s got to go check a few boxes and then they can move forward.”
KSAT report on the lawsuit and news conference. It quotes the complaint, council members on both sides and the full statement DHS sent to the station.
Archived copy (opens in a new tab)Why we used this label
The reference point is DHS and ICE's plan to convert the warehouse at 542 SE Loop 410 into an immigration detention facility without first completing an environmental review under the National Environmental Policy Act. Whyte describes the review the city seeks as the federal government having to "check a few boxes" before moving forward, so we labeled it Minimized. The closest competing label is Defended or excused; it loses because he does not say the facility or the lack of review is justified.