ICE Trying to Buy Carl Icahn-Owned Hudson Valley Warehouse

To conduct its much-maligned crackdown, Immigration and Customs Enforcement needs real estate. One pursuit in the Hudson Valley is being met by swift resistance.

ICE is attempting to buy a warehouse at 29 Elizabeth Drive in Chester, Bloomberg reported. The owner of the warehouse is an affiliate of billionaire investor Carl Icahn, who didn’t comment to the local press, other than to say he became aware of the situation through a local newspaper.

Last trading hands at the end of 2021, the warehouse is 60 miles from Manhattan and 15 miles from the airport, relevant when considering ICE’s typical operations under the Trump administration. The property was last valued by Orange County at $25 million.

The buyer is one part of the controversy, as recent action in Minneapolis deepened the unpopularity of Donald Trump’s immigration policies.

The uproar also pertains to ICE’s likely use for the facility, should a purchase go through. A public notice on the Department of Homeland Security website proposes a guard building, improved security fencing and an outdoor recreation area, all of which seem to point to a detention center.

Not even local members of Trump’s party are on board with the possibility of a detention center in Chester. Orange County executive Steve Neuhaus, a Republican, opposes an ICE conversion of the facility, preferring to see it redeveloped for light manufacturing or film studio space.

Congressperson Pat Ryan, a Democrat, submitted a petition with more than 10,000 signatures to DHS, opposing ICE’s pursuit of the warehouse, according to News 12.

The budget for ICE is one of the flashpoints in the latest government funding fight, though it’s unclear if Democrats have the stomach to push back on full funding for the agency. Last time around, Congress approved $45 billion for expanded enforcement and detention operations as ICE pursues “mega-centers” that can hold thousands of detainees.

— Holden Walter-Warner