Proposed ICE facility in Chester faces regional opposition

A proposed deportation processing center in Chester, New York, has sparked widespread backlash from local residents and advocates across the Hudson Valley.

The Department of Homeland Security issued a public notice on Jan. 8 outlining the plan, which calls for Immigration and Customs Enforcement to purchase and convert a warehouse at 29 Elizabeth Drive in Chester “in support of ICE operations.” The facility, located in Orange County, is a former Pep Boys distribution warehouse that was previously used to store tires and auto parts.

More than 400 people appeared at the Chester Village Board meeting on Jan. 12, according to a public letter addressed to ICE on the Village of Chester’s website, villageofchesterny.gov.

Village officials issued the letter on Jan. 16, formally opposing the proposal. The letter cited concerns about strain on the village’s sewer system, incompatibility with local zoning laws and a restrictive covenant governing the site.

Millerton village trustee Katie Cariello is among the local voices of opposition to the facility, sharing in a statement that she condemns the proposed detention center.

Dutchess County Legislator Chris Drago, D-19, also opposes the plans. “We must stop the development of an ICE detention center right in our backyard,” he said, in a statement. “With the horrific news continuing to come out of Minneapolis, we need to continue to make our voices heard and protect our neighbors.”

New York Senator Michelle Hinchey also denounced the plans. “The ‘warehousing’ language used by your agency to describe the detainment of human beings, and the subsequent mission of this proposal, is dehumanizing, abhorrent, and signals clearly the way your administration views American citizens and immigrants alike,” Hinchey said in a statement directed at the President.

She called the proposed facility a threat to the safety, values, and economic stability of Chester and the broader Hudson Valley community.

More than 20,000 people have signed a petition opposing the proposed facility in Chester that is sponsored by U.S. Rep. Pat Ryan, whose district includes Dutchess County, according to a statement from his office issued Thursday, Jan. 29.

The Jan. 8 public notice was required by an executive order dating back to President Jimmy Carter’s administration pertaining to floodplain management. The plan includes changes to the building’s interior, installation of a guard building, an outdoor recreation area, utility and stormwater improvements, and fence line changes, according to the public notice.

The proposed facility in Chester is part of a larger plan to adapt warehouses and industrial sites across the country into facilities that would hold more than 80,000 people total in a hub and spoke model meant to improve the efficiency of ICE’s deportation system, according to an ongoing Washington Post investigation originally published in December citing internal DHS documents.

Additional reporting by Aly Morrissey.