Tag: immigration

Apr 3

2025

Lawmakers demand answers on border detentions

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Federal, state and local lawmakers across Western New York are denouncing a Trump administration practice of detaining individuals and families in cells at the U.S.-Canada border for as long as two weeks. The region’s federal lawmakers are demanding answers on the new practice. “Our office is looking into these disturbing allegations,” a spokesperson for Sen. Chuck Schumer said in a statement to Investigative Post, noting his office is also seeking answers on ICE’s recent arrest of a mother and children in Sackets Harbor. “There is no excuse for the cruel or inhumane treatment of children & families. [U.S. Customs and[...]

Posted 3 weeks ago

Apr 1

2025

Feds locking up families, children at Canadian border

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Pedestrian entrance to Rainbow Bridge Customs station. Photo by J. Dale Shoemaker. In a departure from past practice, U.S. Customs and Border Protection is detaining people — including families with young children — at official ports of entry along the New York-Canada border for as much as two weeks at a time. In multiple instances since mid-February, families with young children have been detained in cells at the Rainbow Bridge in Niagara Falls. An Investigative Post reporter personally confirmed one of those family detentions. In that case, the family was held for two weeks.  Jennifer Connor, a Buffalo advocate for[...]

Posted 3 weeks ago

Mar 10

2025

Lawsuit: ICE violating First Amendment in Batavia

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The ICE detention facility in Batavia. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers stationed at the Batavia detention center are routinely opening, reading and keeping copies of legal mail sent to detainees in violation of the First Amendment, a lawsuit filed Monday alleges. Attorneys with three civil rights groups, including the New York Civil Liberties Union, Robert F. Kennedy Human Rights, and Prisoners’ Legal Services of New York, argue they can’t properly represent their detained clients if their correspondence isn’t confidential.  The lawsuit alleges that in November, ICE expanded a previous mail inspection policy to include all legal documents that enter the[...]

Posted 1 month ago

Feb 27

2025

ICE’s extensive use of solitary confinement in Batavia

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Lansine Sidibe serves a coconut to a child in Sao Paulo, Brazil, prior to his emigration to the United States. Photo via Kathleen Maynard. Like many migrants, Lansine Sidibe came to the United States in 2022 seeking asylum, first fleeing war in his home country Mali and later threats of violence in Brazil. But instead of finding a new home, Sidibe spent every single day of the last 32 months in the custody of Immigration and Customs Enforcement, much of that time at the agency’s Batavia facility. For 10 of those months, Sidibe was held in solitary confinement.  Such treatment[...]

Posted 2 months ago

Feb 20

2025

ICE abuse of detainees in Batavia facility

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Recent federal audits of the ICE detention facility in Batavia have documented instances of inhumane treatment of detainees by guards. The audits, conducted in 2023 and last year, found instances of excessive use of force, the shackling of detainees held in solitary confinement for the little time they were allowed out of their cells, and the use of physician assistants to perform dental work on detainees. Former detainees and their representatives paint an even darker picture of conditions inside the facility. Guards beating up detainees is not uncommon, they said. Solitary confinement is a frequent punishment, sometimes in lengthy durations[...]

Posted 2 months ago

Feb 19

2025

ICE says it will leave schools alone

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ICE officials have told local school superintendents they have no plans to raid schools in search of undocumented students. Still, Buffalo school administrators said that, while they feel somewhat reassured by the intentions laid out by local ICE officials, they are still taking extra precautions to protect students’ rights and safety. “There are still people that could act on their own to intimidate and make students and families feel uncomfortable. So although it’s some reassurance, I think we still need to remain vigilant,” said Board of Education Member Lawrence Scott. Buffalo Public Schools since December have proclaimed their commitment to[...]

Posted 2 months ago

Jan 6

2025

Awaiting an avalanche of activity

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The ICE detention center in Batavia could become a very busy place when Donald Trump acts on his campaign pledge to begin mass deportation of undocumented immigrants.  Dan Herbeck of The Buffalo News recently spent time at the facility and produced an inside look at life inside for its 530 detainees and what the future holds. The story notes that there are serious logistical and procedural issues that will likely preclude Trump from deporting immigrants en masse as quickly as he wants. Herbeck’s account includes statements from ICE officials about how well detainees are treated, a claim that’s been disputed[...]

Posted 4 months ago

Sep 17

2020

Working for $1 a day

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The company that oversees people held at the immigration detention center in Batavia exploits detainees by paying them $1 a day to perform menial labor, according to a lawsuit filed in state Supreme Court.  The lawsuit, filed Sept. 3, stops short of saying the detainees are forced into doing the work, but suggests that there’s an implicit threat of consequences if they refuse. The practice of assigning work to detainees, a longstanding Immigration and Customs Enforcement initiative known as the “Voluntary Work Program,” violates the state constitution and labor law, the suit contends. The company, Akima Global Services, or AGS,[...]

Posted 5 years ago
Investigative Post