Orange County Correctional Facility ends contract with ICE

Orange County Correctional Facility ended its contract with Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) Aug. 24, one day before the state-imposed Aug. 25 deadline as outlined in the state’s Local Cops, Local Crimes Act passed earlier this year.

For years, the jail has housed federal immigration detainees. As of June, there were 160 detainees housed in the jail, up from 123 in February. The deadline to remove them from the facility is Nov. 25.

ICE did not say what that removal process would look like or where the detainees would go.

“For operational security purposes, ICE does not disclose ongoing or future operations,” a Department of Homeland Security spokesperson said via email.

The county did not respond to requests for comment.

On Aug. 25, the day the legislation went into effect, Gov. Kathy Hochul released a statement addressing the law which bans what are known as 287(g) agreements. The 287(g) program is named for Section 287(g) of the Immigration and Nationality Act, which was codified as part of the Illegal Immigration Reform and Immigrant Responsibility Act signed by President Clinton in 1996. Through 287(g), ICE is authorized to delegate state and local law enforcement officers the authority to perform special immigration officer functions under the direction and oversight of ICE.

“Here in New York, we need local police focused on keeping our communities safe – not serving as de-facto ICE agents, not conducting civil immigration enforcement, and not carrying out the Trump Administration’s callous immigration agenda,” she said. “That’s why I championed our new law banning 287(g) agreements and ensuring local cops remain focused on real crime in our communities. Starting today, ICE can no longer commandeer locally-funded police to aid an out-of-control federal agency with an $85 billion budget.”

Legal challenges

On Aug. 25, Orange County Sheriff Paul Arteta joined 14 other New York county sheriffs in a federal lawsuit challenging the law.

The Federation for American Immigration Reform (FAIR) filed the suit on behalf of the sheriffs in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of New York. The suit claims the state’s ban on agreements with ICE is unconstitutional as it interferes with their independent decision-making by forcing them to cancel federal contracts. The ban also prevents ICE from identifying and transferring criminal aliens already in their jails, according to the lawsuit.

The sheriffs also filed an emergency motion seeking a temporary restraining order and preliminary injunction to stop New York from voiding the agreements with ICE and from forcing the termination of federal housing agreements.

“New York’s law does not merely decline to cooperate with immigration enforcement priorities, [but] it actively dismantles existing, congressionally authorized partnerships that sheriffs lawfully entered to protect their communities,” said FAIR Executive Director Dale L. Wilcox. “Independently elected sheriffs should not be forced by Albany to abandon tools that keep dangerous criminal aliens from walking back onto their streets. This lawsuit seeks to restore the status quo and vindicate the independence of the Office of Sheriff.”

In June, the U.S. Department of Justice filed a 40-page lawsuit challenging Hochul’s legislation, which included banning federal immigration officials from wearing masks and requiring all law enforcement officers to display their agency, name and badge. A federal judge sided with the federal government on the mask issue and identification issue, citing the Supremacy Clause of the U.S. Constitution. The judge did not strike down the provision that ends local cooperation agreements with ICE.

The case is ongoing.