When a detainee at the Buffalo Federal Detention Center is ordered released on bond by an immigration court judge, Immigration and Customs Enforcement must release the detainee at the time specified by the court, said Tom Feeley, field office director for ICE, overseeing New York State.
Feeley was responding to recent news reports that accused ICE of treating detainees inhumanely.
When detainees are released, if they're able to pay for their own transportation, they are taken to the Trailways/Greyhound bus stop at 48 Deli Express on Park Road in Batavia. There is no bus shelter at that location and busses stop infrequently, but on a daily basis.
"I don't know what people expect us to do," Feeley said. "We don't have the authority to hold them once they're bonded out."
A nonprofit online news site in Buffalo, the Investigative Post, first reported about detainees being released three days ago.
Matt Thompson has seen it happen over and over since he started working at the station four months ago.
“The way they treat them, I don’t agree with,” the 20-year Army veteran told Investigative Post. “They drop them off and they treat them like animals. They kick them out of the van, pretty much, and that’s it.”
Though the reporter said the Post tried to contact ICE for comment, Feeley said he is unaware of any such attempt.
Once the story was out, Feeley issued the following statement through an ICE public information officer:
The suggestion that ICE would abandon people upon their release is unfounded and is a clear fabrication that takes away from the professionalism of the men and women that work at the facility. ICE detainees who are bonded out of custody at Batavia are transported to an area transportation hub at no cost. If they are unable to cover the costs of transportation to their final destination, the agency will cover the costs. Detainees are transported to the transportation hub consistent with existing route times and schedules. The agency routinely coordinates detainee releases with family members and attorneys.
When detention facility staff becomes aware that a detainee will be bonded out, they suggest the detainee contact family or friends to get a wire transfer of funds for transportation to their intended destination. If the detainee doesn't have that resource available, they ask the detainee to contact his or her attorney. If the detainee is truly indigent, ICE staff will transport the detainee to Rochester or Buffalo with enough money for a train ticket to an intended destination.
Feeley noted that ICE is working with taxpayer money and therefore can't responsibly transport detainees who have the funds for their own transportation to Rochester or Buffalo.
He also said that ICE isn't responsible for a shelter at the bus stop, or lack of one. It would be up to one of the bus companies or the gas station to build a bus shelter, not ICE, he said.
