Articles for J. Dale Shoemaker

Jul 17

2025

Latinos, roofers are prime ICE targets in WNY

An ICE raid took place on Crescent Avenue in May. Photo submitted. Rather than targeting the “worst of the worst,” as the Trump administration claims, ICE agents in Western New York are primarily arresting immigrants with no criminal history. Data shows that more than three-quarters of migrants arrested in Western New York since President Trump took office have no criminal record.  To date, most of the 335 detainees are from Latin American counties, a significant percentage of them roofers and others in the construction field. By contrast, ICE arrested a total of 84 in Western New York all of last[...]

Posted 3 days ago

Jul 16

2025

ICE deception on immigrant detentions

On X, ICE has used these words to describe detainees who were already incarcerated. Graphic by I’Jaz Ja’ciel. Since Donald Trump took office in January, the Buffalo ICE office has issued a steady drumbeat of press releases and social media posts purporting to show that its agents are taking dangerous criminals “off the streets.” But in reality, more than half of the immigrants ICE Buffalo has publicized since Trump’s inauguration were already in state or federal prison. Following a White House-issued quota, ICE data shows that arrests in the region have skyrocketed from 83 last year to 335 through the[...]

Posted 4 days ago

Jul 8

2025

Lawsuit seeks environmental review of STAMP data center

Chief Roger Hill, a Tonawanda Seneca Nation leader, looks out to Plug Power site. Photo by Garrett Looker. The Tonawanda Seneca Nation is again suing the builders of the Genesee County STAMP industrial park, arguing in a lawsuit filed last week that the industrial development agency failed to conduct a proper environmental review for a large data center. The lawsuit asks a judge to issue a temporary restraining order to halt any prep work being done for the data center, and eventually to rule that additional environmental reviews are needed before the project can proceed. The Nation and the Sierra[...]

Posted 2 weeks ago

Jul 3

2025

Report: OTB’s No. 2 helped himself to freebies

An internal review at Western Regional Off Track Betting Corp. has found a senior executive spent more than $27,000 of the agency’s money on food and drinks for himself, his friends and other guests between 2021 and 2024. The executive in question, Chief Operating Officer Scott Kiedrowski, was the right-hand man of former CEO Henry Wojtaszek, who he succeeded a decade ago as chairman of the Niagara County Republican Party. Byron Brown kept Kiedrowski on when he took over as CEO in October and gave him a $17,000 raise, bringing his pay to $190,000. Kiedrowski is also the subject of[...]

Posted 2 weeks ago

Jul 1

2025

ICE targets Iranian family in Buffalo here legally

The corner of West Delavan Ave. and Greenwood Pl. on Buffalo’s West Side. Photo by J. Dale Shoemaker. For nearly a week, immigration agents in Buffalo have targeted a block on the city’s West Side, seeking to detain an Iranian man living there. The man is in the United States legally. He has no criminal history, no warrant for his arrest and regularly checks in with immigration officials as part of his asylum case. He’s seeking to stay in the country permanently with his son after having fled persecution in Iran for his political activity. Since Wednesday, agents believed to[...]

Posted 3 weeks ago

Jun 25

2025

Buffalo primary voters sought change in City Hall

With a commanding voice Tuesday, Buffalo’s Democratic voters said they preferred state Sen. Sean Ryan to lead the city over Acting Mayor Christopher Scanlon. At polling sites across the city Tuesday, voters told Investigative Post reporters that they were ready for change in City Hall — be that Ryan, former fire commissioner Garnell Whitfield, University Common Council Member Rasheed Wyatt or even newcomer Anthony Tyson-Thompson. Most of those interviewed favored someone other than Scanlon, a reflection of the actual vote. The acting mayor, some said, had failed to gain their trust eight months after succeeding Byron Brown, who resigned in[...]

Posted 3 weeks ago

Jun 20

2025

Feds seeking to deport sickle cell patient over theft

U.S. immigration officials are seeking to deport to Venezuela a 20-year-old migrant living in Buffalo and suffering from sickle cell disease because he has been accused of shoplifting at the Walden Galleria Mall. A spokesperson for U.S. Customs and Border Protection told Investigative Post the charge of shoplifting “nullifies” Anderson Contreras-Hernandez’s legal status and, under the newly enacted Laken Riley Act, means he must be detained by immigration authorities. To date, he has not been convicted of any crime. The spokesperson described Contreras-Hernandez as “amenable to deportation.” His attorneys, in a lawsuit filed Tuesday, have appealed to U.S. District Judge[...]

Posted 4 weeks ago

Jun 17

2025

Feds won’t retrieve wrongfully deported migrant

Jordin Melgar-Salmeron. Photo submitted. Jordin Melgar-Salmeron, the Salvadoran man long detained in Batavia and deported to his home country last month in violation of a federal court order, is allowed to return to the United States. But only if he can get to the border himself. That’s the position the Trump administration has taken in the case, according to recent court filings reviewed by Investigative Post. Melgar-Salmeron’s attorneys are demanding the government actively facilitate his return, as it did for Kilmar Abrego Garcia, another Salvadoran man deported in violation of a court order whose case has gained wide attention. Following[...]

Posted 1 month ago
Investigative Post