Mid-Hudson Valley DSA Leads New Windsor Rally Demanding ICE Exit

Hundreds gathered outside 843 Union Ave. in New Windsor on Feb. 16, 2026 for an “ICE Out of Hudson Valley” rally organized by the Mid-Hudson Valley chapter of the Democratic Socialists of America, with estimates ranging from just over 200 to more than 250 participants. Demonstrators chanted, climbed atop snow mounds with signs and megaphones, and called for closure of a leased ICE office in the Hudson Valley.

Town Supervisor Stephen Bedetti told local reporters that ICE has leased office space at the Union Avenue building for attorneys for approximately three to four months and that the lease was secured without notification to local or federal elected officials. Protesters and speakers tied that leased space to broader plans reported in the region, including a Department of Homeland Security purchase in the Village of Chester that organizers say signals ICE expansion in Orange County.

Orange County Executive Steve Neuhaus issued a statement earlier in February saying there had been zero communication from the federal government and that his team of attorneys is ready to take legal action once the deed transfer for the Chester property is filed. Neuhaus told one local paper, “I have not had one elected official in New York State, in the Hudson Valley, in Orange County, call me and say, they’re for this,” framing the expected legal challenge as bipartisan opposition.

Congressman Pat Ryan, who led a Jan. 29 rally in Chester against the proposed detention center, has continued to mobilize against the plans; his office says a petition opposing the Chester facility received more than 20,000 signatures. Ryan’s campaign materials assert the Chester project is part of a nationwide ICE plan to house 80,000 migrants in warehouses, and declare, “WE WILL WIN THIS FIGHT.” Those claims are presented by Ryan’s office as its position.

Speakers at the New Windsor rally included a Poughkeepsie city councilmember identified in coverage as Daniel Atonna (spelled Daniel Atoona in other reports), Newburgh councilmember Giselle Martinez, and Vanessa Cid, co-chair of the MHVDSA Immigrant Solidarity Working Group. Atonna told the crowd, “Working class people demand healthcare, housing, and education, not detention and deportation,” and added, “No secret ICE offices in New Windsor, Poughkeepsie, or anywhere.” Martinez said, “Our community does not want ICE here in the Hudson Valley or anywhere,” and in extended remarks criticized enforcement tactics that she said target people without signed judicial warrants. Cid urged pressure on lawmakers to pass the New York for All Act and the Dignity Not Detention Act.

The rally included cultural protest elements and visible participants named in local photo captions: Daniel Atonna and Brandon Istenes led the crowd in Woody Guthrie’s “All You Fascists,” while photographers captured speakers Keith Williams and Valeriet Inojosa and a recurring protest presence identified as “Cap” Dick Kennedy dressed as Captain America. Organizers described the Feb. 16 action as the latest in a series of regional demonstrations opposing ICE’s expanding footprint in Orange County.

Local leaders at the rally pledged continued legal, legislative, and community organizing responses; organizers and elected officials said they will monitor deed transfers, pursue oversight and legislation, and push to end cooperation between local agencies and federal immigration enforcement.