Governor Hochul’s Letter to Secretary of Homeland Security: End the Secrecy, Evasion and Contempt for Communities and the Rule of Law

Governor Hochul Demands Answers From the Department Of Homeland Security Following Reports of Three Immigration Detention Projects in New York State

Governor Kathy Hochul issued a letter to U.S. Department of Homeland Security Secretary (DHS) Markwayne Mullin demanding answers in response to reports of three separate federal immigration detention projects planned in New York State.

Despite the Department repeatedly stating their intentions to coordinate with local communities and President Trump’s promise to the people of New York not to expand ICE enforcement operations unless Governor Hochul asks, recent reports have uncovered three immigration detention projects in Rochester, Batavia and Newburgh.

In her letter, the Governor urges truth and transparency for the safety and security of New York communities, and calls on DHS to end the unbridled aggression against law-abiding New Yorkers.

The full text of the letter is below:

Dear Secretary Mullin:

Over the past several weeks, New Yorkers have learned about three separate federal immigration detention projects planned for our state. But they didn’t hear about them from your administration. They learned from press reports and procurement records uncovered after the fact.

You have repeatedly promised to coordinate with local communities. That’s not what’s happening.

Instead of focusing on the worst of the worst, your administration is detaining neighbors and coworkers, separating families, and secretly building the infrastructure to detain even more people.

• In Rochester, your Department is seeking to install immigration detention cells inside a building that houses a daycare and a federal court, over the objections of the Chief Judge, the Mayor, the County, and the community.
• In Batavia, you announced an expansion of the already overcrowded detention center, which your Department’s Inspector General already cited for improper treatment of detainees.
• In Newburgh, the administration has reportedly signed an agreement to lease a warehouse for use as a detention facility. But no one has talked to the town, or the county, or the state, despite bipartisan public condemnation.

My long standing policy has always been that we will cooperate with law enforcement when crimes have been committed and there is a warrant for arrest or a court order, because we want our streets to be safe as well; but this unbridled aggression against law-abiding New Yorkers must stop.

So I ask: is your Department building or expanding immigration detention facilities in New York? If so, where, to what capacity, and under what authority? And is this being done at your direction despite President Trump’s commitment that ICE enforcement operations in New York would not be expanded unless requested by the Governor?

New Yorkers, like all Americans, deserve honest answers about what their federal government is doing in their communities. And I demand your department provide that transparency.

I am also formally requesting the opportunity to speak with you, Mr. Secretary, about these matters and the need for greater transparency to protect the safety and security of our communities as the Department of Homeland Security continues its work in New York.

Sincerely,

Kathy Hochul

Governor