Immigrant communities in the Finger Lakes region are watching closely as Immigration and Customs Enforcement expands its detention facility in Batavia, near Buffalo. The expansion is meant to allow the site to hold women detainees. Democratic U.S. Rep. Tim Kennedy of Western New York recently released a letter from Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin that confirmed earlier reports of the plan.
Jose Sandoval, the Latino Communities Reporter at WXXI News in Rochester through Report for America, has covered the expansion. He discussed it with WAMC's Maryam Ahmad, describing both the makeup of the region's immigrant population and how enforcement has affected it.
According to Sandoval, a couple thousand seasonal workers arrive each year through the H-2A program. Others have chosen to stay, including families who work on dairy farms, which do not qualify for the seasonal visa program. Many of those who stay in rural parts of the region are Mexican. Jamaican workers also labor in the fields, and Sandoval noted a growing presence of people from Afghanistan and Ukraine, with the latter resettling after the war began.
He also pointed to rising numbers of Venezuelans and Ecuadorians, along with others from Central and South America. After larger cities sent migrants elsewhere, the Ibero-American Action League, a local nonprofit, helped resettle some families in the area. Sandoval said a couple hundred families arrived within the past few years.
On detention, Sandoval explained that the Buffalo Service Processing Center in Batavia currently holds only men. Upstate New York has no facility for detained women, and under a new state law signed by the governor, county jails can no longer house them. Previously, women could be sent to Louisiana or another facility and later returned.
The Batavia site has had a capacity of 650 beds for men. Updated contracts show it is now growing through what Sandoval described as a soft-sided facility, which he and a colleague believe may be temporary. Their reporting drew on contracts listed on USA Spending, the federal government's open data source on spending. The expansion is worth roughly $17 million and is for housing women.
Beyond that, details are unclear. Sandoval said WXXI has asked DHS and ICE what will be built and received no clarity. He compared the term to Alligator Alcatraz, which was also a soft-sided facility, but said the exact design in Batavia is unknown.
Community groups have stepped in to help. Sandoval said nonprofits and rapid response groups have delivered groceries and driven people around when needed.
Latino communities are a new beat for WXXI News, Sandoval said, and he plans stories on who the H-2A workers are and on other residents of the region. He added that building trust with immigrant communities takes time, and that the situation can change daily or weekly, so reporters at times have to go with the flow.
