03/04/2026
Posted by the Buffalo Latino Village:
THIS IS THE TIME FOR A COMMUNITY TO BECOME A VILLAGE!
By Eri Hielo-Caliente Alvarado
February 26 at 8:55 AM
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It's odd to leave the country and be bombarded with a different news cycle! ICE is secretly building a new detention network and silently widening its ground footprint.
Internal planning documents released in February 2026 describe an “ICE Detention Reengineering Initiative” designed to implement a new nationwide model by the end of FY2026.
The plan centers on acquiring and renovating eight large scale detention centers, designed for about 7,000–10,000 people each, and 16 regional processing sites meant to hold 1000 to 1500 people short term for processing and transfer.
Their stated goal is to increase detention capacity to about 92,600 beds by late 2026, supported by a massive new infusion of federal funding.
New York State offices named in reporting WIRED names three NY locations where ICE is moving into office space as part of the leasing surge.
• Woodbury, NY (Long Island): 88 Froehlich Farm Boulevard.
• New Windsor, NY (Hudson Valley): 843 Union Avenue.
• Chester, NY (Hudson Valley): not listed as an office address in the piece but described as a warehouse site DHS/ICE was pursuing for detention, and WIRED notes the NY offices above are within driving distance of it.
Separately, AP reports ICE publicly discussed warehouse purchases in Chester, New York, then said it made a “mistake” meaning the Chester site has been part of the warehouse detention reporting, even if the final status has shifted.
For Erie County / Niagara County, there is clear reporting that people are being held in additional places beyond Batavia.
Erie County
• Town of Tonawanda, CBP station at 600 Colvin Woods Parkway has been used to detain people for days.
Niagara County
• Lockport Niagara County Jail has held ICE detainees as of June 2025.
• Niagara Falls people reported being held for days or weeks at the Rainbow Bridge offices. An address was not provided.
Buffalo area
• Buffalo people held at the Peace Bridge offices for days/weeks. A street address isn’t given.
Existing core detention site
• Batavia, NY Buffalo Batavia Holding and Service Processing Center, 4250 Federal Drive, Batavia, NY 14020.
If the goal is to deport people, why are we investing in massive long-term infrastructure?
Your tax dollars are being used to build an enforcement machine that functions like state terror.
This is not “border security.” This is oppression infrastructure, warehouses and industrial buildings turned into cages, built fast, kept quiet until communities find out too late. Very on brand for the politics in 2026.
Call it what it is modern day enslavement through detention, funded by the public, carried out through fear, and designed to make human beings disappear behind walls.
And local and State leaders can only put out PR statements in "outrage" while literally creating the environment for this type of terrorism to flourish.
Do you all need a camera in your faces in order for you to actually speak out against injustices you all create?
ICE just murdered a man on your watch and in YOUR CITY!
See? Democrats call those who hold them accountable "obsessed"... yes, i am obsessed with better quality of life, and it is obvious those preventing access are politicians.
No one is obsessed with mediocre people that can't even pay their bills and live off the folks they are supposed to be serving and helping.
No one is envious of struggle.
No one gives a f**k about YOU personally. But when folks start dying on your streets it isn't "obsession" it is called accountability.
Most of you don't even know the meaning of the word, let alone the requirements.
Mediocrity is leading Western New York, and it keeps getting worse.
