Officials: ICE Operated From Leased New Windsor Office for Months

Federal immigration attorneys have operated from leased office space at 843 Union Ave. in New Windsor for several months without prior notification to local leaders, triggering demands for documentation and public protests across Orange County. Rep. Pat Ryan (D-N.Y.) said in a Feb. 11 press release that the space “was leased and has been operating without any notification to local or federal elected officials. This is unacceptable and demonstrates the same contempt for transparency and safety that we are seeing from ICE nationwide.” Ryan set a Feb. 20 deadline for a written response from ICE and Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem and copied Acting ICE Director Todd Lyons.

Town Supervisor Stephen Bedetti told reporters he “was made aware Tuesday that ICE has made its way into New Windsor,” and that the property owner informed him the offices have been used “for about four months” under a federal lease. Bedetti said the owner told him the first and second floors are being used by ICE attorneys for “interviews and desk work, not as a detention center” under a General Services Administration contract. Bedetti said he contacted the property owner and town police and “plans to monitor the location,” adding, “The transparency thing bothers me... it's not right.”

Ryan’s Feb. 11 letter lists six specific questions he demanded answered by Feb. 20: when ICE first leased or occupied 843 Union Ave.; the duration and total cost of the lease; the office’s specific purpose and the number and roles of personnel stationed there; why no notification was provided to local and federal elected officials; whether individuals will be detained at the location and under what conditions; and whether the office is connected to plans to convert the former Pep Boys warehouse in Chester into a detention or processing facility.

Community response included a demonstration at 843 Union Ave. organized in part by the Mid-Hudson Valley Democratic Socialists of America. City of Newburgh councilmember Giselle Martinez told demonstrators, “From the ICE detention center being proposed in Chester to their secret office in New Windsor, the message is loud and clear, our community does not want ICE here in the Hudson Valley or anywhere.” Local business owner Tiffany Maurice said she was anxious upon learning ICE has worked out of the building on Route 300 for “the past three months,” and that ICE agents were “aggressive during a recent visit to her apartment building,” leaving her to “shiver to imagine a large, coordinated campaign of the same forcefulness.”

The New Windsor lease sits amid broader reporting that federal agencies have expanded local footprints. Wired, which obtained federal leasing records, listed 843 Union Ave. among about 150 new or expanded ICE leases nationwide, according to local reporting. An ICE spokesperson told Mid Hudson News, “Is it really news that when a federal agency hires more personnel that they need more space?” and added, “We have an additional 12,000 ICE officers and agents on the ground across the country. That’s a 120 percent increase in our workforce,” while citing increases in threats and assaults against officers.

Key records remain outstanding: the GSA lease for 843 Union Ave., the exact lease start date, duration and cost, ICE’s staffing numbers and operational plans for the New Windsor office, and any formal connection to the Chester warehouse proposal. Congressman Ryan’s Feb. 20 deadline and Bedetti’s pledge to monitor the site set the immediate timeline for federal agencies to produce documentation or for local officials to pursue further review. Blaise Gomez’s social post amplifying the story showed strong local engagement, with 2.7K reactions, 2.1K comments and 658 shares, underscoring heightened community concern.