Tag: immigration

Jun 13

2025

Feds adding migrant detention centers in Buffalo area

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U.S. immigration agencies have expanded their footprint in Western New York, detaining arrested migrants in five locations beyond the federal detention center in Batavia.  One reason for the detentions: The ICE facility in Batavia has been periodically near or over capacity in recent months and cannot house women or children, according to advocates for detainees.  In the Town of Tonawanda,  23 immigrants have been detained for the past 10 days at the U.S. Customs and Border Protection station located at 600 Colvin Woods Parkway. A Customs and Border Protection spokesperson  confirmed those detentions Wednesday. The station is in an office[...]

Posted 2 days ago

May 30

2025

Another ICE deportation in defiance of court order

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For at least the second time since President Donald Trump took office, Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents deported a migrant in defiance of federal judges — this time a Salvadoran man long held in detention in Western New York. The Trump administration’s most recent action occurred May 7. That morning, a panel of federal judges with the Second Circuit Court of Appeals in New York City granted the man, Jordin Melgar-Salmeron, permission to remain in the United States while his immigration case wound its way through the courts.  Twenty-eight minutes later, however, Melgar-Salmeron was on an ICE Air flight from[...]

Posted 2 weeks ago

May 28

2025

Detained immigrant family emigrates to Canada

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Marcos, Aracely, Madelin and Itzayana on the Rainbow Bridge. Photo by J. Dale Shoemaker. A Salvadoran family previously detained for weeks in a makeshift cell at the Rainbow Bridge in Niagara Falls and separated by ICE has successfully emigrated to Canada and been reunited in Toronto. The mother and her two children were admitted May 5. The father followed them two weeks later, after he was first detained at the Immigration and Customs Enforcement detention center in Batavia and later released to the Vive shelter on Main Street in Buffalo. Local advocates who assisted the family said it’s a rare[...]

Posted 3 weeks ago

May 22

2025

ICE raids immigration court in Buffalo

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In a rare, perhaps unprecedented move, armed ICE agents raided the federal immigration court in downtown Buffalo Wednesday, seizing four people who had showed up for scheduled hearings. Two people present in the court building on Delaware Avenue told Investigative Post they saw between six and 12 Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers — many in plainclothes, some armed — present in common areas and at least one courtroom. “I’ve never heard of it, I’ve never seen it,” said Jennifer Connor, executive director of the nonprofit advocacy group Justice for Migrant Families. “This is the first time I’ve ever seen ICE[...]

Posted 3 weeks ago

May 6

2025

ICE detainee in legal limbo

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Saul Valverde-Venegas and his wife, Paula Diaz, on the Maid of the Mist tour in Niagara Falls. Photo provided. Saul Valverde-Venegas, the Buffalo man arrested two weeks ago by federal immigration officers, is stuck — legally and literally. “I’m trying to have a strong mindset,” he told Investigative Post in a phone interview from the Buffalo Federal Detention Center in Batavia, where he’s been held since his April 23 arrest on the city’s West Side. He said the arrest caught him by surprise. “We went out to go to work and they just caught us,” he said. “Of course I[...]

Posted 1 month ago

Apr 30

2025

ICE seeks to deport Buffalo man over traffic tickets

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Immigration and Customs Enforcement is seeking to deport a Buffalo man whose only offense appears to be traffic citations. And in a second case, ICE appears to be attempting to deport someone arrested for a crime they committed prior to entering the United States. ICE officers last week arrested West Side resident Saul Valverde-Venegas, a roofing contractor, while he was loading a work truck. For days, ICE refused to explain why. In a statement Monday evening, an ICE spokesperson described him as “unlawfully” entering the United States more than a decade ago and said he had “since acquired several vehicle[...]

Posted 2 months ago

Apr 25

2025

ICE arrests two Buffalo men

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  Immigration Customs and Enforcement agents detain man on Buffalo’s West Side. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers on Wednesday morning arrested two Buffalo men on the city’s West Side, Investigative Post has learned. ICE has so far refused to acknowledge the arrests but bystanders and family members confirmed that two men were arrested around 9 a.m. Wednesday. Witnesses said four unmarked law enforcement vehicles pulled up to the corner of Rhode Island and 14th streets. Photographs provided to Investigative Post show ICE officers arresting two men who were loading a blue Chevrolet Silverado work truck. A witness told Investigative Post[...]

Posted 2 months ago

Apr 3

2025

Lawmakers demand answers on border detentions

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Federal, state and local lawmakers across Western New York are denouncing a Trump administration practice of detaining individuals and families in cells at the U.S.-Canada border for as long as two weeks. The region’s federal lawmakers are demanding answers on the new practice. “Our office is looking into these disturbing allegations,” a spokesperson for Sen. Chuck Schumer said in a statement to Investigative Post, noting his office is also seeking answers on ICE’s recent arrest of a mother and children in Sackets Harbor. “There is no excuse for the cruel or inhumane treatment of children & families. [U.S. Customs and[...]

Posted 2 months ago
Investigative Post