Just not n-ICE
Immig fear after inquiry on W’chester County jail
THE FEDS ASKED Westchester County officials if they were interested in holding immigration detainees in the county jail, sparking fears among advocates that the inquiry was a sign there will be more raids by ICE.
The Westchester Correction Department received an inquiry in February from Immigration and Customs Enforcement asking if the county had “any interest” in holding immigrant detainees, it was revealed Tuesday.
County officials haven’t responded, and ICE has not followed up, Westchester Deputy Correction Commissioner Justin Pruyne told the Daily News.
“The inquiry from ICE was very preliminary in nature and, to date, has not been revisited by ICE or our agency,” Pruyne said. ICE and Westchester have not discussed cost or the number of available beds at the jail in Valhalla (inset). There are 1,064 inmates at the lockup, and it has a capacity of 1,800.
Hasan Shafiqullah, deputy attorney in charge of the immigration law unit of the Legal Aid Society, said ICE’s inquiry with Westchester appeared ominous.
“This would likely signal an increase in raids in New York City neighborhoods and nearby,” Shafiqullah said. “We’d have serious concerns about these jails’ capacity to extend required accommodations to detainees.”
An ICE spokeswoman at the agency’s New York office did not respond to a request for comment.
New Yorkers detained by ICE are sent to jails in Hudson, Bergen and Essex counties in New Jersey, as well as a jail in upstate Orange County. The Nassau County Sheriff’s Department has not been contacted by ICE about space, Capt. Michael Golio said.
ICE’s inquiry with Westchester aligns with the agency’s efforts across the country to accommodate a growing number of immigration detainees. The New York Times reported this month that ICE had identified 27 sites nationwide that would increase its capacity by 21,000 beds.
Jessica Young, supervising attorney for the Westchester Hispanic Coalition, said immigrants in the county are already afraid of going out in public or appearing in court because of ICE’s intensified enforcement since President Trump took office. The News has previously reported on concerns surrounding ICE’s presence in city courthouses since the advent of the Trump administration. Mayor de Blasio has pledged the city will cooperate with ICE only under very limited circumstances.
By contrast, Westchester County Executive Rob Astorino has previously said the county will comply with ICE detainer requests asking local authorities to hold inmates until they can be transferred to federal custody. Astorino expressed particular concern about the violent MS-13 gang, which he said was recruiting undocumented people. An Astorino spokeswoman did not respond to a request for comment about ICE’s inquiry about the Westchester jail.