Oct 3
2025
Overcrowding rampant at ICE facility in Batavia
- Share on
J. Dale Shoemaker summarizes the story.
The ICE detention center in Batavia is bursting at the seams.
Data obtained by Investigative Post shows an average of 727 migrants have been held at the 650-bed facility daily since early June.
“We’ve heard reports of people sleeping on the floor of the gymnasium of the facility, given only individual workout mats to sleep on, not even mattresses,” said Aaron Krupp, regional coordinator for Justice for Migrant Families, an advocacy group that works with detainees.
In mid-August, the number of people held in the detention center peaked at nearly 800. The count dropped below 600 in early September after nearly 200 were transferred to other detention centers or deported.
Such ebbs and flows are not captured in ICE’s official data. Those figures have never shown the facility to be over capacity, but researchers have found the real population is significantly higher. Two researchers further found that the agency may be under-reporting the number of people detained in its facilities.
As of September 27, the last day for which Investigative Post obtained data, 738 migrants were held at the detention center. An ICE spokesperson did not respond to a request for comment.
Detentions began rising in February, shortly after Donald Trump took office. By June, an average of 729 people were held in Batavia daily.
The overcrowding is a consequence of Trump’s crackdown on immigrants. Additional data analyzed by Investigative Post shows that ICE arrests in Upstate and Western New York far outpace prior years and that deportations are occurring at a faster rate.
Donate to support our nonprofit newsroomKrupp said the facility is now overcrowded and is making conditions there worse than they already were.
“I think that everyone should know what’s going on inside ICE facilities,” he said. “If people knew, most people would be outraged and horrified.”
Additional ICE data shows that the majority of those held at Batavia — 61 percent — have no criminal history.
Use of solitary confinement is also common at the detention center. Figures obtained by Harvard University researchers and the advocacy group Physicians for Human Rights show that 50 to 69 detainees in Batavia have been held in solitary confinement each month between January and May. ICE’s latest numbers show 44 people were held in solitary in August.
Those numbers place the Batavia facility in the top 10 for use of solitary confinement among 56 detention facilities nationwide. The August figures rank Batavia seventh for use of solitary confinement.
More arrests, more detentions
Across Upstate and Western New York — ICE’s Buffalo Field Office covers 48 counties — agents have arrested 1,455 people so far in 2025, versus 785 all of last year.
Close to half of those arrests — 45 percent — were made in the eight counties of Western New York.
The pace of deportations in Upstate and Western New York is also increasing, up from a monthly average of 207 last year to 252 through July of this year.
The arrest and deportation data — published on a rolling basis — is the result of a FOIA lawsuit brought by the Deportation Data Project, a group of lawyers and academics in California, many based at UCLA.
A new measure of solitary confinement
In September, Physicians for Human Rights and a team of Harvard University researchers released the second iteration of their probe into solitary confinement in ICE facilities.
The report is the first time an accurate count has been made available of how many people are held in solitary confinement in ICE detention facilities.
Previously, explained Harvard University professor Arevik Avedian, ICE would only count certain categories of people held in solitary, including people deemed “vulnerable” or those held for 14 days or longer. That resulted in ICE not reporting hundreds of solitary placements nationwide and dozens at the Batavia facility.
“Some facilities would actually take out detainees from solitary confinement before that 14-day [reporting] mark and then put them right back in,” Avedian said. “That would reset their placement duration so they would never even need to report that person was being placed in solitary confinement.”
ICE, as of December 2024, reports all placements in solitary confinement. In November, ICE reported that 36 people were held in solitary in Batavia. In December, with the change, the number jumped to 69.
The Harvard report covers April 2024 through May 2025. Before the reporting change, an average of 34 people per month were listed as being held in solitary. The monthly average has since increased to 60 people.
The frequent use of solitary confinement, the report states, suggests “particularly harsh practices” at the facility. The numbers, Avedian said, “show that they are simply abusing this practice more than others.”
Investigative Post has previously reported on the widespread use of solitary confinement in Batavia. Placements lasting longer than two weeks are considered torture by international standards and detainees can suffer physical and mental health repercussions for years afterwards.
“You can have nightmares for many years after,” said Avedian. “Some had suicidal ideations that became much worse because of this.”
