Crime & Justice · Oct 3, 2026ICE Watch: Trump admin. moving forward with $17 million expansion of ICE detention facility in Batavia

ICE Watch & Accountability · Daily Update · October 3, 2026, 1:40 PM CDT

Detention & Deaths

Trump admin. moving forward with $17 million expansion of ICE detention facility in Batavia

That's according to Western New York Rep. Tim Kennedy, who released a letter from Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin on Friday.

In the letter, Mullin confirms plans for a new 100-bed facility are moving forward with funding from President Donald Trump's landmark tax and spending package, signed into law last year. The expansion at the Buffalo Service Processing Center includes detention sites as well as new medical rooms and staff housing. Mullin says there are 653 people currently detained there and only 28% have a criminal background.^[1]

Owner of downtown Bellingham’s Cof& detained, in ICE custody

BELLINGHAM, WA (MyBellinghamNow.com) – The owner of a local coffee shop is among dozens from Whatcom County that have been detained by ICE in recent months.

A Department of Homeland Security (DHS) spokesperson confirmed to My Bellingham Now that ICE arrested Oscar Quintero Frias at Sea-Tac Airport on Sept. 15. DHS says Quintero Frias lawfully entered the US from Colombia in February 2021, but only had permission to stay for six months. Quintero Frias and his wife own a Columbian specialty coffee shop on Cornwall Avenue called Cof& (pronounced coffee).^[2]

Courts & Lawsuits

ICE Arrests Colombian Illegal Alien After Massachusetts Court Vacates Aggravated R*pe Of Child, Releases Her

ICE Boston announced Friday that it has taken into custody Diony Edith Ramirez Patino, a Colombian national, after her release from Massachusetts Department of Correction custody.

According to the agency, Ramirez Patino had been convicted by a jury of statutory aggravated rape of a child and indecent assault and battery on a child under 14, and sentenced to 10 years in prison. An appeals court later vacated those convictions, and she was released from state custody. ICE said Suffolk Superior Court did not honor a federal immigration detainer, which the agency attributed to Massachusetts’ Protect Act, and that she left custody as a result.^[3]

US Supreme Court agrees to hear challenge to mandatory immigration detention without bond hearings

The US Supreme Court granted certiorari on Thursday to determine whether mandatory detention without a bond hearing may be imposed for noncitizens who entered the US without inspection and were later detained in the interior.

Ricardo Aparecido Barbosa da Cunha, the respondent challenging his detention in this case, was arrested in September 2025 and placed in removal proceedings. He was denied a bond hearing by the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) under its interpretation that he was subject to mandatory detention. The Immigration and Nationality Act (INA) distinguishes between noncitizens detained as “applicants for admission” under 8 USC § 1225 and those detained during removal proceedings under 8 USC § 1226.^[4]

Raids & Arrests

ICE raids cast chilling shadow over New Bedford immigrant businesses

NEW BEDFORD — In recent days, Acushnet Avenue, typically a busy commercial area populated by restaurants, retail stores and mini-markets in the city’s North End, has been quiet.

Locals have stayed away since the recent immigration raids, in which at least 24 people were arrested — many in front of small businesses. For Iris de la Rosa, owner of Mexican restaurant Taqueria La Raza, her business has barely seen customers after someone was picked up outside her restaurant on Sept. 22 during the latest US Immigration and Customs Enforcement surge on the South Coast.^[5]

“If the business continues like that, I think I have to close the door because it’s too much,” de la Rosa said.
— as reported by The Boston Globe

Legislation Limiting ICE Arrests Proposed in Senate

Multiple U.S. senators introduced legislation aimed at cutting down warrantless arrests by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE).

The proposed bill also limits the agency’s ability to detain individuals indefinitely. If passed, it will limit the agency’s power in carrying out immigration enforcement operations. What the Bill Would Do Civil immigration arrests typically require an administrative warrant for officers.^[6]

Oversight & Policy

California assemblymember's aide is released from ICE detention

Producer California assemblymember's aide is released from ICE detention Producer A former San Francisco news anchor who works as a legislative aide for a California assemblymember has been released from an ICE detention facility after being granted bond by a judge this week.

Assemblymember Catherine Stefani shared a photo Friday of Ho Yin Mo, a Hong Kong native who previously worked for a San Francisco-based Chinese news station and now works in Stefani's office. ICE agents detained Mo in Las Vegas two weeks ago, and he faced deportation. According to Stefani, Mo has been in the process of pursuing his immigration status.^[7]

Newsom slaps 25% tax on private detention centers in sweeping pushback against key Trump policy

All eight ICE detention facilities in California are privately operated by companies including GEO Group and CoreCivic {{#rendered}} {{/rendered}} California Gov. Gavin Newsom signed a bill earlier this week that would impose a 25% tax on private detention centers, a policy that would apply to all the facilities that partner with Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) in the Golden State.

The move, which Newsom hailed as a way to push back against President Donald Trump’s immigration crackdown and what he sees as the practice of privatizing federal enforcement, is raising concerns among immigration experts who believe the increased tax could force the government to explore alternative facilities less suited to housing detainees. It also poses questions about what would happen if all eight of ICE's detention facilities chose to suspend their operations in California.^[8]

"If we can’t kick out private facilities, we’ll go after their profits," Newsom said in a press release.
— as reported by Fox News

Primary Records

Check the government’s own records directly:

• ICE detainee death reporting (ICE’s own notices)
• DHS Office of Inspector General reports
• ICE online detainee locator

References

1. spectrumlocalnews.com. Trump admin. moving forward with $17 million expansion of ICE detention facility in Batavia. ↩
2. My Bellingham Now. Owner of downtown Bellingham’s Cof& detained, in ICE custody. ↩
3. New Bedford Guide. ICE Arrests Colombian Illegal Alien After Massachusetts Court Vacates Aggravated R*pe Of Child, Releases Her. ↩
4. jurist.org. US Supreme Court agrees to hear challenge to mandatory immigration detention without bond hearings. ↩
5. The Boston Globe. ICE raids cast chilling shadow over New Bedford immigrant businesses. ↩
6. International Legal and Business Services Group. Legislation Limiting ICE Arrests Proposed in Senate. ↩
7. KCRA. California assemblymember's aide is released from ICE detention. ↩
8. Fox News. Newsom slaps 25% tax on private detention centers in sweeping pushback against key Trump policy. ↩

Methodology: ICE Watch & Accountability is compiled daily by scripts/ice_watch.py from named news reports published in the previous 36 hours. Passages in bold and in quotation blocks are verbatim from the cited report; nothing is paraphrased or generated by AI. Stories are grouped by keyword into sections, and a story already covered on Kemetic Minds in the past three days is skipped.

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