Apr 25
2025
ICE arrests two Buffalo men
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Immigration Customs and Enforcement agents detain man on Buffalo’s West Side.
Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers on Wednesday morning arrested two Buffalo men on the city’s West Side, Investigative Post has learned.
ICE has so far refused to acknowledge the arrests but bystanders and family members confirmed that two men were arrested around 9 a.m. Wednesday.
Witnesses said four unmarked law enforcement vehicles pulled up to the corner of Rhode Island and 14th streets.
Photographs provided to Investigative Post show ICE officers arresting two men who were loading a blue Chevrolet Silverado work truck. A witness told Investigative Post at least one other officer on the scene wore an FBI insignia. The men, roofing contractors, had been packing equipment for a job.
One of the men is Saul Valverde-Venegas, a Costa Rica native. He is now being held in the Buffalo Federal Detention Center in Batavia, according to his family members and an ICE database. The name of the other man arrested is presently unknown.
It’s not clear why Valverde-Venegas or the other man were arrested. After initially being contacted by Investigative Post Wednesday, ICE spokesperson Marie Ferguson declined to provide specific information on the arrests, saying only that the Buffalo field office was “actively investigating immigration crimes.”
“We are unable to research and respond to every rumor or discuss specifics of routine daily operations,” she said.
Neither Ferguson nor other ICE spokespeople responded to additional questions about the arrests posed by a reporter on Thursday and Friday.
Donate to support our nonprofit newsroomQuestioned by a reporter Friday, Terry Dunford, ICE’s community relations officer based in Buffalo, refused to answer questions about why the two men were arrested. He said only that ICE arrests are “targeted enforcement actions” and done on orders from President Donald Trump.
Family members of Valverde-Venegas said they were given no information as to why he was arrested. They said he was issued a traffic citation around a year ago but had paid his fine.
Buffalo police, too, said the department had no knowledge of the arrest or why it took place.
Spokesperson Michael Read said Friday that the Buffalo Police Department had “no record of any contact” with Valverde-Venegas. What’s more, he said, “the department has no information on what he could’ve possibly been arrested for yesterday.”
The detainees’ work truck.
Valverde-Venegas’ family said they believed him to have legal status to live and work in the United States.
Fabiola Vargas, his sister-in-law, said he had a work permit. She said he moved to Buffalo in recent years from the Orlando area of Florida seeking higher pay. Florida court records show a handful of traffic citations — failure to stop at a red light, failure to pay a toll — issued to a Saul Valverde-Venegas, none more recent than five years ago.
Valverde-Venegas’ wife, Paula Diaz, said he was seeking permanent residency in the country and was nearing the end of the process. She said he was saving up money so he could fly to the Costa Rican embassy to be issued a visa, one of the final steps before receiving a green card.
Vargas said she delivered paperwork to ICE’s Buffalo field office Thursday where an officer claimed his work permit wasn’t enough to allow him to stay in the country. She said she was confused by that assertion.
“Everything he has until now, it’s going to waste?” she questioned. “I don’t think it’s fair.”
Diaz said her husband is now awaiting a Tuesday hearing before an immigration judge, but will be held in Batavia until then. She said it’s possible he’ll get out on a $1,500 bond but that such an outcome is uncertain. Worse, she said, he has access to the money but she does not.
“I don’t know how I can pay the bond because he has the money with him,” she said.
“I need to pay bills, I need to pay my rent and everything, and he’s the one … he makes more than me. So it’s hard.”
She added: “Right now I’m okay. I’m waiting until Tuesday. I hope he gets out Tuesday.”
Both Diaz and her sister described Valverde-Venegas as a hard worker and a caring stepfather who kept himself out of trouble. Vargas said he was “literally always working” and had dreams of forming his own roofing company one day. She said he has lots of friends he sees when he’s not on a job site.
Diaz, who’s raising their stepdaughter in Florida, said the young girl “calls him dad.”
“He calls every day. He provides everything for her,” she said. “And when she needs something, he’ll be there.”
Vargas said the incident makes her sad and questioned why her brother-in-law was targeted.
“It’s like, if you guys say, ‘We’re taking criminals,’ then why are you taking people [like him]? It’s a lot. Hispanics are not the only immigrants but we’re focusing only on them. Why?” she said.
“If you want to get the criminals, then get the criminals. It’s sad that people in this country have to live in fear.”
