By Susan Manuel
Citizens Folds
Citizens Bank announced on July 17 that it is cutting its financial ties with two large for-profit prison operators that have detained immigrants on behalf of the Trump administration, reported the Rhode Island Current. (CB is Rhode Island’s largest bank). The bank said this was a business decision, “based on commercial circumstances.” The move came just days after the Montclair (NJ) Township Council voted unanimously on 14 July to pull the town’s money — $91.1 million — out of Citizens Bank, as part of a series of protests over the bank’s financing of the Geo Group and Core Civic, NJ.com reported.
The amount to be divested is four-fifths of Montclair’s $106.8 million annual budget. The De-ICE Citizens Bank Coalition reports that Jersey City cast a similar vote last month. (A protest was held at the Kingston, NY, branch on June 5.) Nearby Bloomfield (NJ) was considering a similar action. Montclair and Jersey City have pulled more than $330 million from Citizens Financial Group which has financed the private prison industry since 2012 and provided GEO Group with $100 million in January, according to NJ.com.
Newburgh and New York State
The town board of Newburgh on July 13 voted unanimously to oppose any ICE use of a warehouse at 800 Corporate Blvd., which has been leased by a Texas construction company and is on the GSA list of properties. While the proposed use of the building has not been disclosed, GSA documents showed the government was looking for a space for “detainee buses,” vans, 24/7 access, and proximity to Stewart Airport, WAMC reported. Many in the region feared an immigrant detention center. Hundreds of protestors gathered before the meeting at the town hall, and several regional media covered the event. Right after the protest, the town board voted unanimously to oppose the facility if, indeed, it is to be used as a processing or detention center.
“We want to do the same thing we did in Chester and get the word out and have people pressuring their local, state, and federal officials to prevent this from coming to our community and also to completely abolish ICE eventually,” said Grace Ott, of the Mid-Hudson Valley DSA, one of the organizers. (MidHudson News). Protest organizers want the town to do more, such as “permitting, public disclosure and information and zoning to actually stop this from coming to Newburgh.” Rep. Pat Ryan (D-NY18) launched a petition to gather signatures to oppose the ICE facility. Several months ago, he sent 25,000 signatures to DHS, opposing a proposed detention center in Chester, midhudsonnews.com reported. In addition, ICE is leasing office space in New Windsor and has an office at 15 Governor Drive in Newburgh. Spectrum News reported on plans to put an ICE detention facility inside the Kenneth Keating Building in Rochester.
Reportedly taken by surprise by federal plans, Gov. Kathy Hochul had on 13 July written DHS demanding to know of plans for detention centers in NYS, noting the Newburgh site, one planned for Rochester, and the expansion of the ICE facility at Batavia. She got an answer…but not on the detention plans. A DHS spokesperson told WAMC that “policies of not cooperating with ICE put New Yorkers in danger.” And that “when politicians bar local law enforcement from working with DHS, our law enforcement officers have to have a more visible presence so that we can find and apprehend the criminals let out of jails and back into the communities.”
A spokesperson for Hochul told the MidHudson News that “New York will never be a sanctuary for dangerous criminals. We will continue working with federal authorities to target violent offenders and dangerous criminals, but we will not stand by if ICE floods our communities with agents, separates families, and turns our neighborhoods into the backdrop for a campaign of fear.” The state will continue to cooperate with ICE to “go after dangerous criminals,” but will “not support their aggressive tactics on hardworking New Yorkers.”
NY sheriffs react to immigrant protections
Spectrum News, msn.com and the Times Union reported last week on the opposition of several NY state sheriffs to Gov. Hochul’s legislative efforts to limit local law enforcement from cooperating with federal immigration authorities. While the opposition is led by the NY Sheriff’s Association, Ulster County Sheriff Juan Figueroa—who was elected to a one-year term as the Association president in January—and Albany County Sheriff Craig Apple—who recently announced his resignation—have publicly supported Hochul’s immigration measures. Strangely, the Times Union failed to mention Figueroa or his stance. And in their coverage of the Association protest last week, other media quoted Figueroa but did not identify him as the Association president, although he is listed as such on the Association website.
Hochul has been trying to stop 287(g) agreements between local law enforcement and the federal government, which allow coordination on non-criminal violations (i.e. immigration arrests) and for jails to be used to detain immigrants for the feds. The agreements essentially train local law enforcement to act as immigration agents and permit local law enforcers to turn over immigrants in their custody to ICE. The New York Times on Sunday published a report examining the 18 states which the Trump administration is targeting over their sanctuary status, New York being one. The Times investigation found extensive cooperation and coordination with federal agencies when it comes to people convicted of serious crimes. All but one have sharply increased the number of people being moved from local and state authorities into federal immigration custody.
While 15 of the 18 states have passed laws restricting local agencies from entering 287 contracts, “no states prohibit their officers from assisting federal agencies on criminal violations. All allow the transfer of inmates into federal custody if the authorities present a criminal warrant signed by a judge.”
In a statement issued Tuesday, Figueroa said that the sheriffs’ opposition was not unanimous: “New York’s sheriffs serve diverse communities and do not speak with one voice on every aspect of immigration policy…I strongly share the association’s commitment to the constitutional independence of the office of the sheriff and to the principle of local accountability. I differ in some fundamental ways as to how these immigration-related issues should be understood and addressed. This is not about protecting criminals, but about ensuring that crime victims, witnesses and community members trust their local sheriff to protect them, regardless of immigration status.”
More national detention news
Truthout reported on July 13 that “Community Activism Forced Federal Government to Abandon Plans for ICE Warehouses,” writing that “activists are now watching to see whether the Trump administration will instead further privatize immigration detention…” And…in a change of course, the Trump administration’s plans to detain tens of thousands of immigrants in Amazon-style warehouses have been massively scaled back.” In January 2026, an internal memo revealed a list of some two dozen places where DHS had purchased or was seeking to buy large warehouses to hold immigrant detainees.
“Now, after spending nearly $1 billion buying 11 warehouses at a 134 percent markup over assessed value, the Trump administration is ditching the idea. Detention Watch Network, which coordinated a national campaign against the proposed ICE warehouses, told Truthout that ICE’s move to offload warehouses illustrates the growing national consensus that people across the country do not want ICE in their communities…. People are against immigrants being locked up in abusive ICE detention centers and will fight tooth and nail to keep their communities safe.” Truthout credited activists with the DHS change of plans: “It was not bipartisanship, lawsuits, or the wisdom of elected officials, but sustained community activism that forced the federal government to abandon the warehouses.”
A former Trump official, John Fabbricatore, told the New York Times that the “warehouses were a quick effort to scale up mass deportations, but failed because ‘the left was able to throw up immediate roadblocks.’” Warehouses built during COVID to meet the demand in online shopping have sat empty. Located near urban centers, they became easy targets for activists, Truthout reported. Examples include an ICE warehouse in Romulus, Michigan, stopped initially by a student walkout, then Metro DSA and the Coalition to Shut the Camps. Immigrant communities from around Georgia led a campaign to stop a large detention center in Social Circle. And a DHS warehouse in Surprise, Arizona, has been put on pause pending an environmental analysis after a state lawsuit.
Activists such as No Ice North Jersey Alliance (Project NINJA) mobilized against large ICE warehouse in Roxbury in 2025. The state filed a lawsuit outlining its potential to poison nearby waterways. The government then withdrew plans for the center, only to reverse course in early July. David Broderick, legal counsel for Project NINJA, said that the government had presented no new facts in the case. “One can’t help but suspect that this is nothing more than a political charade designed to embarrass state and local leaders.…” The massive facility (470,000 square feet) has given a new headache to Rep. Tom Kean (Republican) who is running for re-election, reported the New York Daily News. Even his own party has said he did not do enough to oppose the site. Meanwhile, Insider NJ reported that the township of Neptune (NJ) voted on 13 July to ban data centers and ICE detention facilities.
In its possible return to privatization of immigrant detention, Truthout noted potentially lucrative sites operated by GEO Group which has six empty facilities with 6,000 beds that could bring the company $300 million in new revenue. And in California, DHS has purchased two prisons from CoreCivic, the other major private prison company. Former GEO executive David Venturella is currently the acting director of ICE. ICE also plans to build its own sites: Project Saltbox reported on July 17 that ICE has posted a solicitation for bids for a $10 billion construction program to build and expand detention space on land it owns, rather than leases. It begins with eight possible projects. Batavia is the only one in New York state. Read the whole article on Project Saltbox’ Substack or at projectsaltbox.com.
Alligator Alcatraz abandoned. The Miami Herald reported on July 13 that Alligator Alcatraz, the immigration detention center in Miami-Dade, has been abandoned. FL Gov. Ron DeSantis announced in June that the center had served its purpose, detaining 21,000 immigrants as they were being deported. Environmental groups had filed lawsuits against the state due to the facility’s proximity to the Everglades and to the pollutants the site emitted. The state of Florida had invested more than $1 billion operating the center for less than a year.
Detention deaths. Immigration expert Austin Kocher reported on Substack that with the death of Jesus Manuel Arenas-Silva, 45, during a transfer between George facilities on July 13, the number of immigrants who have died in detention under Trump II stands at 50, with 60 total deaths counting the recent shootings in Maine, Texas and a traffic death in Florida. The unofficial cause of death was cardiac arrest. But Detention Watch puts the total at 53 detainees.
Deportation Fleet. The New Republic reported on July 10 that the Trump administration will build a fleet of government-owned planes to carry out deportations. DHS is reportedly seeking a private company to operate a fleet of at least nine large jets both at home and abroad, providing pilots, nurses, and security, Bloomberg reports. The planes will also carry the upper echelon of the administration’s staff on diplomatic trips.
EliasGuerra/WAMC