Press Releases

Kennedy’s Oversight Letter Raises Questions About Need, Detainee Safety, and Facility Conditions

BUFFALO, N.Y. – Congressman Tim Kennedy (NY-26) has sent a letter to Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Secretary Markwayne Mullin demanding that the Department immediately discontinue plans to construct a new 100-bed Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) detention facility at the Buffalo Service Processing Center in Batavia, New York. Kennedy warned this development represents a dangerous expansion of the Trump administration’s cruel and extreme immigration enforcement agenda.

Kennedy criticized DHS’s justification for expanding detention capacity, noting that most individuals detained at Batavia do not have criminal records. The letter underscores that the expansion of ICE’s detention capacity at the Batavia facility does little to enhance public safety – it merely increases the Trump administration’s ability to police and overcriminalize communities in Western New York and across the U.S.

Kennedy requested that DHS provide detailed information about the proposed facility, including its cost, funding source, construction timeline, intended detainee population, medical infrastructure, staffing needs, and current detention population at Batavia. He also called on the Department to release records related to its decision to build the facility and explain how it plans to ensure detainee safety and accountability.

Full text of the letter below: 

The Honorable Markwayne Mullin
Secretary
U.S. Department of Homeland Security
Washington, DC 20528

Dear Secretary Mullin, 

I write to demand that the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) immediately discontinue plans to construct a new ICE detention facility at the Buffalo Service Processing Center (Batavia). This development represents a further expansion of the Trump administration’s cruel, inhumane, and extreme immigration enforcement agenda. It reflects a broader effort to escalate interior immigration enforcement and expand detention capacity in service of the continued over-criminalization of immigrant communities in Western New York and across our country. 

DHS’s purported need for additional detention capacity in Western New York is largely a result of its own deeply flawed and extreme enforcement policies. It has been well documented that the majority of ICE detainees – roughly 70 percent – do not have a criminal record. Consistent with this national trend, the majority of Batavia detainees also do not possess a criminal record. Specifically, four of five individuals have no criminal arrest or conviction. This makes clear that DHS’s proposed expansion is not driven by an influx of dangerous criminals in Western New York, but rather by the detention of non-criminal immigrants, including local small business owners, workers, students, or even individuals who mistakenly cross the northern border. Expanding detention capacity under these circumstances does little to enhance public safety – it merely increases the Trump administration’s ability to police and overcriminalize communities in Western New York and across the U.S. 

The Trump administration has a well-documented history of rapidly constructing detention facilities in service of its extreme immigration enforcement agenda, oftentimes without ensuring those facilities have the infrastructure to ensure detainee safety, security, and health. Through soft-sided tents, retrofitting of warehouses, and construction of hard-sided facilities, ICE has expanded its footprint – frequently over the objections of local communities – without proper consideration for detainee health or safety. I am deeply concerned that a new facility at Batavia would follow this same pattern, prioritizing rapid facility construction over DHS’s obligation to ensure that every individual in its custody is held in a safe, humane, and dignified manner. 

Given these significant concerns, I request that DHS respond to the following questions wholly and completely by July 15, 2026. 

1. As of July 8, 2026, how many individuals are currently being held at Batavia? 
   1. What percentage of those individuals possess a criminal record? How many detainees are being held for a civil immigration offense?
2. What appropriated funds is DHS using to build the new facility? What is the total estimated cost of designing, constructing, and operating the new facility?
3. Does ICE plan to detain men, women, or children at the new facility? 
4. Has construction on the 100-bed facility begun? If so, when?  
5. What additional medical infrastructure, if any, is DHS planning to build?
6. What are the staffing needs for DHS’s planned new facility?
7. Please provide all records related to the decision to construct the facility, including official memos, cost estimates, and communications with any contractors.

Thank you for your prompt attention to this matter.

Sincerely,

Timothy M. Kennedy
Member of Congress (NY-26)

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