CHESTER – Opponents should not be surprised that the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) will build detention centers throughout the country, including a potential site in Chester, the agency said on Thursday.
Although an ICE spokesperson would not comment on the reported Chester site, they defended the plan. Under the proposal, detainees would be held in 23 renovated industrial warehouses capable of housing up to 80,000 immigrants at a time, rather than being transferred to existing detention facilities nationwide.
The proposed Chester site would likely be at the now-closed Pep Boys Warehouse, located at the Chester Industrial Park in the Village of Chester.
“These will not be warehouses — they will be very well-structured detention facilities meeting our regular detention standards,” ICE said via email. “Every day, DHS is conducting law enforcement activities across the country to keep Americans safe. It should not come as news that ICE will be making arrests in states across the U.S. and is actively working to expand detention space.”
The proposed Chester site, first reported by the Washington Post, has been panned by Republicans and Democrats alike. Republican Orange County Executive Steve Neuhaus said that ICE’s planned detention center in Chester would be a “disaster.” Congressman Pat Ryan (D-NY-18) called the plans for ICE detention centers “shameful and un-American.” Town of Chester Supervisor Brandon Holdridge, a Democrat, said ICE “has no place in Chester.”
The Chester ICE facility appears to be moving forward. According to the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) website, “ICE is proposing to purchase, occupy, and rehabilitate a warehouse property at 29 Elizabeth Drive, Chester, NY, in support of ICE operations.”
Public comments on the proposed project can be sent via email to , but must be received by Friday, Jan. 16th. Ryan is encouraging the Hudson Valley community to show up in force and . Ryan will submit anonymized results to .
Meanwhile, ICE continues to double down on its policies, which have been a lightning rod for controversy.
“ICE is targeting the worst of the worst, including murderers, rapists, criminals, gang members and more,” ICE said in its statement. “70% of ICE arrests are of illegal aliens charged or convicted of a crime in the U.S. Thanks to the One Big Beautiful Bill, ICE has new funding to expand detention space to keep these criminals off American streets before they are removed for good from our communities.”
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