ALBANY – With reports that the Department of Homeland Security has purchased a warehouse off Route 17K in the Town of Newburgh for use as a detention facility, Governor Kathy Hochul is demanding answers.
Two other facilities, one in Rochester and the other in Batavia, are also reported on the ICE list for detainees. In Rochester, ICE is reported to be installing a immigration detention center in a building that houses a daycare center and federal court, over the objections of the chief judge, mayor, county and community.
In Batavia, there is an expansion already underway in an overcrowded detention center.
In Orange County, the Newburgh Town Board has expressed its opposition to a detention center, and no federal officials have communicated with the town, county, or state.
In a letter to Secretary Mullin, the governor said, “You have repeatedly promised to coordinate with local communities. That’s not what’s happening.”
In her letter, she asked if HLS is building or expanding immigration detention facilities in New York. If so, where, to what capacity, and under what authority? And the governor asked, “Is this being done at your direction despite President Trump’s commitment that ICE enforcement operations in New York would not be expanded unless requested by the governor?”
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