Local officials decry proposed ICE facility

Local officials are criticizing a federal government proposal to open an Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) processing facility at the site of a former Pep Boys warehouse in the Village of Chester. The facility, according to The Washington Post, would be part of a larger plan to house 80,000 individuals in warehouses across the country.

A Jan. 8 “Notice of Activity” on the Department of Homeland Security website reads, in part:

“ICE is proposing to purchase, occupy and rehabilitate a warehouse property at 29 Elizabeth Drive, Chester, N.Y. in support of ICE operations. Proposed site improvements may include, but are not limited to, internal structural changes, surface parking area modifications, installation of a small guard building (approximately 150 square feet), establishment of an outdoor recreation area, utility and stormwater improvements, and fence line modifications. No site improvements are expected to be taller than the existing structure or expand beyond the current site boundaries, and all work and construction staging will occur within the parcel boundary. The new and modified facilities would occupy approximately 35.9 acres of land within the Village of Chester in Orange County.”

Though attempts to contact Chester Mayor John Bell for comment on the proposal have thus far been unsuccessful, he did tell attendees at Monday night’s village board meeting that the federal government has not contacted the village about the proposal nor is the village considering any matter related to the Elizbeth Drive property.

Orange County Executive Steve Neuhaus, a Republican, told News12 he is against the actions of ICE.

“The federal government is hunting people down who they say are mostly bad people but if their families have children that’s a problem and we owe it to ourselves to come up with a better solution than to round them up as cattle in a temporary center,” he said.

Neuhaus added he would prefer that a movie studio be built at the warehouse.

Congressman Pat Ryan, a Democrat, said the plan is un-American.

“Our Hudson Valley community strongly rejects the Trump administration’s plans for mass detention camps across the country, especially in our own backyard,” Ryan said in a press release announcing a petition to stop the plan. “It’s shameful, un-American, and the exact opposite of everything our community stands for.”

Town of Chester Supervisor Brandon Holdridge echoed Ryan’s stance.

“ICE has no place in Chester, the Hudson Valley, New York, or the country at this point,” Holdridge is quoted as saying in the press release from Ryan’s office. “The well documented abuses and illegal actions being carried out by this president’s Department of Homeland Security are out of control. I’m proud to work with Congressman Ryan to disincentivize this rogue, unlawful, and un-American agency from stepping foot in our town.”

Calls and emails to Homeland Security and ICE seeking comment were unsuccessful.