BATAVIA, N.Y. — While there are several facilities throughout the United States housing undocumented immigrants, there are only five that are wholly owned and operated by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE).
One of them is the Buffalo Service Processing Center in Batavia, a city midway between Buffalo and Rochester.
Located at the end of Federal Drive just off NYS Route 98, it sits surrounded by fences topped with razor wire and pine trees.
"We like being able to bring folks on tours to be able to see it," said Joseph Freden, Deputy Field Office Director for Enforcement and Removal Operations for the ICE field office in Buffalo.
Although our cameras were not allowed inside due to what Freden described as concerns for "safety and security of the facility," he accompanied 2 On Your Side for a tour of the facility that opened in 1998.
The vast majority of the employees within the facility, from the guards to the cooks to the health care workers and numerous others, are not federal employees. Instead, they work for various contractors hired by the federal government.
"The folks that work here are Western New York individuals who have pride in the work they put in here. They're part of the community," Freden said.
Despite outward appearances — including a controlled access gate, razor wire around the perimeter, the cells within the buildings, and the hallways where none of the detainees are allowed to walk without an escort — Freden says there are differences between this place and what is commonly understood to be a prison, both in its intended function and those who are detained here.
"We're not executing a punitive environment for folks serving quote-unquote 'time,' " Freden said. "They're just being detained until their case is adjudicated and they're either granted relief or ordered removed (from the country)."
Who's inside
There are no U.S. citizens held in the facility, only foreign nationals who according to ICE may have:
- U.S. criminal convictions;
- Pending criminal charges in the United States;
- No convictions or pending charges but who have broken U.S. immigration laws, including visa overstays and Visa Waiver Program violators.
All are facing possible deportation for either after having committed a crime while on U.S. soil, or having committed the crime of reaching U.S. soil without permission, formally known as failure to present themselves while crossing the border.
"There's a lot of misconception that (crossing the border illegally) is an administrative charge. But it's a criminal charge," Freden said.
According to ICE, the average stay of a detainee in Batavia is less than two months.
However, Freden said, "There's cases that could go on for years. Every case is dictated by the circumstances of that case."
To that end, there are two courtrooms within the facility for immigration judges to sit in order for cases to be adjudicated as efficiently as possible.
And it is a judge who ultimately decides the fate of these individuals.
"They would either order you removed or grant you relief per the Immigration Nationality Act, and that could be in the form of asylum or withholding of removal," Freden said. "If they're granted any kind of relief by an immigration judge, then we take no action on them when they're released, as they would be subject to relief granted by the courts."
What it's like inside
Inside, some detainees live in pods featuring cells and a common area, much as one might see in a modern prison setting.
They wear either red, orange, or blue fatigues with the color designating how dangerous they are considered (red being the highest), or how serious the crimes they may have committed may have been, or how they behaved while incarcerated previously.
Those wearing blue uniforms, and designated as posing little to no threat to staff or other detainees, are housed in an open dormitory setting with bunk beds.
Special attention is made to separate those who may be from conflicting cultures or from rival gangs.
They are allowed phone privileges and have tablets available to them to communicate with family members.
Among the latest editions to the facility are "VAVs", which are phone booth like units allowing for "Virtual Attorney Visitation," affording privacy for detainees to speak with lawyers face-to-face via computer screens, which also have capabilities for interpreters to join the conversation.
On the day of our visit Friday, we were told there were 530 men housed in the facility from 85 countries. There are no female detainees in the facility.
Individualized meals are prepared with special attention to dietary requirements dictated by health or religion.
According to ICE, 216,000 specialized meals were prepared in the facility last year, including meals that were kosher or prescribe to halal.
There is a library, indoor and outdoor recreation facilities, and a gym where religious services are also held.
There is a medical facility, a dental facility, and a pharmacy that, according to ICE, distributed $500,000 worth of prescription drugs to detainees here last year.
If detainees are in need of more complex medical care, including surgeries, they are performed at either Erie County Medical Center or The University of Rochester's Strong Memorial Hospital, which are funded through taxpayer dollars at no cost to the detainee.
Detainees are not required to work in the facility.
Impact of a new administration
The impact on this facility of the incoming Trump Administration and its pledge to aggressively pursue those who have entered the country illegally and deport those who have criminal records or who have committed crimes since entering the United States is something Freden would not speculate about.
"With the oncoming administration, that is going to go through a complete transition period with the transition team," Freden said. "So as we're operating right now, we are operating the same way we did yesterday, and we'll operate the same way we will tomorrow, until we're given any kind of direction with the next administration."
You can check out anytime you like, and you can always leave
Another key difference between this and any other secured facility — be it a federal or state prison, or a county jail — is that detainees can leave.
If they agree to be deported.
"Anybody is available to, at any point if they want to go home, to just make that be known," confirmed Freden, who said they will be provided transportation at no cost to them, back to where they came from.