Updated plans to expand the ICE detention facility at Batavia now describe a $17 million soft-sided or tent project — all or part of which is to house women.
The Department of Homeland Security previously announced a 100-bed hard-sided facility described as a “temporary detention structure.” The Buffalo Service Processing Center in Batavia already is the largest Immigration and Customs Enforcement detention facility in New York state, typically operating well over its 650-bed capacity but — until now — only housing men.
The latest contract modification appears to add $7 million to the project, bringing it to its current total, and states the intent is to establish a “soft-sided facility and support services for detained female aliens,” records show. Funding would cover two years of operation, and includes $5 million for contingencies.
“While this approach may be more expensive, it is necessary to meet the immediate and urgent bedspace requirements in the Buffalo area of responsibility,” wrote Charles Wall, deputy director with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, in a June 15 letter seeking contract approval for the tent facility.
U.S. Rep. Timothy Kennedy, a Democrat whose Western New York district includes Batavia, released the letter and other documents Friday. Kennedy, who is a member of the House Committee on Homeland Security, reiterated his opposition to the expansion saying the Trump Administration mislead Americans when they said they were going after " the worst of the worst."
"More than 70 percent of the people held in Batavia have no criminal record, and DHS says that doesn't matter," Kennedy said in a prepared statement.
Kennedy referenced a response he recently received from Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin, included in the documents released Friday, stating that 28% of the detainees at Batavia had a criminal history but that "known criminal history is not a prerequisite for immigration enforcement action and never has been."
Federal officials have tied the expansion to New York state prohibiting local law enforcement from cooperating with immigration authorities. That was signed into law in May and took effect in August. Fifteen county sheriffs are currently suing the state over the new law.
The state’s prohibition includes housing detainees in county jails. ICE does not have a detention facility for women in Western New York, so it otherwise contracted with jails or moved female detainees out of state.
Exactly what is to be built at Batavia, though, is unclear.
Walls’ letter cites the $17 million, two-year project cost, and was penned two-and-a-half months before Homeland Security awarded a sole-source or no-bid contract purportedly for the 100-bed hard-sided expansion. That contract went to Akima Infrastructure Protection, LLC. The U.S. firm has ties to human rights abuses at Guantanamo Bay, and also has been put in charge of running the Batavia facility.
In his letter, Walls sought approval “as soon as possible" while estimating the tent or soft-sided expansion would take six months or less to build. He included additional "medical infrastructure" including exam, consultation and airborne infection isolation rooms, a multipurpose room, offices and a nurses station. Mullin listed a need for added staffing, ranging from nurses and a dentist to recreation coordinators.
The facility has previously been cited for insufficient medical care and staffing shortages.
The modification with added funding that described the soft-sided women’s facility was filed on Tuesday, Sept. 29. That same day, Mullin wrote to Kennedy, referencing only a hard-sided facility — also for women, though possibly for men but not to include children — and stating that construction had yet to begin.
The documents Kennedy released had details, including total capacity of the expansion, redacted. Kennedy declined an interview request. A spokesperson for Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer said his office was compiling information but was not prepared to comment. Immigration and Customs Enforcement did not respond to questions seeking clarification after initially re-releasing its statement from this summer referring to the hard-sided facility.
