Orange County 

ICE currently detains our fellow New Yorkers at Orange County Jail in Goshen, NY.  The Orange County Legislature provides oversight and can put pressure on the County Executive to end the contract.  

"In 2024, Orange County budgeted $74.6 million for its jail, exceeding County budgets for education, public health, mental health, and economic development combined. With an average daily jail census ranging from 307-413 in recent years, the government expends more than $400 per incarcerated person per day, more than triple the average local income. In a County where 13% of residents earn less than $25,000 per year, local needs for healthcare and public services can be expected to sharply increase as federal cuts to Medicaid, nutrition assistance, and public health programs take effect. Orange County does not publish revenues received from ICE or other state and federal agencies and programs." (New York Lawyers for the Public Interest, Denied Care Denied Dignity)

The Dignity Not Detention campaign is urging the Orange County executive, Steve Neuhaus, to end the county jail's contract with ICE, while urging county legislators to pass a resolution calling on him to end the contract. The federal government's plan to purchase a warehouse in the Village of Chester for use as a "mega detention center" -- effectively, a concentration camp -- appears to be off the table for the moment, so we are putting those calls on hold. 

Learn more: 

• https://www.timesunion.com/hudsonvalley/news/article/ice-warehouse-chester-purchase-site-21350937.php

• https://www.yahoo.com/news/articles/ice-retracts-false-claim-purchased-022435597.html 

• https://www.timesunion.com/hudsonvalley/news/article/ice-detainees-medical-failures-orange-county-jail-21100141.php

• https://www.nylpi.org/denied-care-denied-dignity/ 

• https://www.nyclu.org/commentary/new-york-jails-are-conspiring-ice-abuse-immigrants 

• https://www.nyclu.org/press-release/detained-immigrants-sue-ice-and-ny-officials-retaliation-against-first-amendment  

OC Executive

Steven M. Neuhaus

Steve Neuhaus is the Orange County Executive.  

• Phone: 845-291-2700, ext. 3255 

• Email: ceoffice@orangecountygov.com 

• Email: SNeuhaus73@aol.com

Phone & Email Script:

My name is ___ and I am reaching out as a fellow New Yorker due to my concern about ICE detention in Orange County.  [If you are from Orange County or have any connections to it, please mention that.] 

I appreciate County Executive Neuhaus’s recent opposition to the proposed "mega detention center" in Chester and his leadership on this issue as the child of immigrants.  At the same time, however, it is equally urgent to end the ICE detention contract at Orange County Jail.  

Orange County Jail's contract with ICE enables the agency to transfer our community members to detention centers across the country, in addition to exposing our family and friends in detention to horrific conditions and treatment.  The county should not be making money off of the violence of immigration detention.  

You have the power to stop the county’s complicity in ICE’s violence.  Will you end the ICE detention contract now?  

OC Legislators

Genesis Ramos 

Genesis Ramos is an Orange County legislator representing the City and Town of Newburgh. She is currently the Democratic Leader of the Orange County Legislature and previously served on the Public Safety and Emergency Services Committee, which provides oversight of Orange County Jail.  

• Phone: 845-291-4800

• Direct: 845-806-1021

• Email: GRamos@orangecountygov.com 

Phone & Email Script:

My name is ___ and I am reaching out as a fellow New Yorker due to my concern about ICE detention in Orange County.  [If you are from Orange County or have any connections to it, be sure to mention that.] 

I appreciate your continued opposition to the proposed "mega detention center" in Chester and your leadership in the county legislature passing a resolution to oppose it.  However, as long as ICE detention continues at Orange County Jail, the county remains implicated in ICE’s horrific violence. 

Reports on conditions at OCJ, and lawsuits by people detained there, make it clear that responsibility for conditions there rests not only with ICE or the federal government, but also the county.  A civil rights lawsuit filed on behalf of immigrants detained at OCJ in April 2023 named not only DHS, ICE, and Kenneth Genalo, the Acting ICE Field Office Director, but also Undersheriff Kenneth Jones, Sheriff Carl Dubois, and Orange County itself. [See https://www.nyclu.org/press-release/detained-immigrants-sue-ice-and-ny-officials-retaliation-against-first-amendment] 

The county should not be making money off of the violence of immigration detention.

It's time to take the next step. Will you introduce a resolution calling on Orange County executive Steve Neuhaus to end the county jail's contract with ICE and ban any new detention centers in Orange County? 

Will you also use your position as Democratic Leader to have the legislature pass a resolution in support of New York State passing Dignity Not Detention (A4181/S316) which would permanently end detention contracts between counties like Orange County and ICE?   

Laurie R. Tautel

Laurie Tautel is chairwoman of the Orange County Legislature and a Democrat.  She represents the towns of Cornwall, Highlands, Monroe, and Woodbury.

• Phone: 845-281-4840

• Email: ltautel@orangecountygov.com 

Phone & Email Script:

My name is ___ and I am reaching out as a fellow New Yorker due to my concern about ICE detention in Orange County.  [If you are from Orange County or have any connections to it, be sure to say so.] 

I appreciate your strong opposition to the proposed "mega detention center" in Chester and your support of the county legislature's resolution opposing it. However, as long as ICE detention continues at Orange County Jail, the county remains implicated in ICE’s horrific violence. 

The ICE contract at Orange County Jail allows ICE to transfer our community members to detention centers across the country, in addition to exposing our family and friends in detention to horrific conditions and treatment that is ongoing and well documented.  The county should not be making money off of the violence of immigration detention.

You can use your position as a county leader to pressure Orange County executive Steve Neuhaus to end the county jail's detention contract. Will you?

Will you also work to have the legislature pass a resolution in support of New York State passing Dignity Not Detention (A4181/S316), which would permanently end detention contracts between counties like Orange County and ICE? 

Matthew Fascaldi

Matt Fascaldi is a newly elected Orange County legislator, representing the Town of New Windsor.  Fascaldi is a Democrat and a member of the Working Families Party.  He is currently the chair of the Public Safety and Emergency Services Committee, which provides oversight of Orange County Jail.  

• Phone: 845-916-5422

• Email: mfascaldi@orangecountygov.com 

Phone & Email Script:

My name is ___ and I am reaching out as a fellow New Yorker due to my concern about ICE detention at Orange County Jail.  [If you are from Orange County or have any connections to it, be sure to say so.] 

I appreciate your willingness to hear out our concerns about ICE detention at Orange County Jail.  I firmly believe that the county should not be making money off of the violence of immigration detention.  The ICE contract at Orange County Jail enables ICE to transfer our community members to detention centers across the country, in addition to exposing our family and friends in detention to horrific conditions and treatment which is longterm and well documented.  

You can use your position as a leader in the county to pressure the County Executive to end the ICE detention contract.  What steps will you take to do so?  

Will you also work to have the legislature pass a resolution in support of New York State passing Dignity Not Detention (A4181/S316) which would permanently end detention contracts between counties like Orange County and ICE?   

Jonathan Redeker 

Jonathan Redeker is a Democratic member of the Orange County legislature who recently visited Orange County Jail and posted this.  He represents the town of Goshen, village of Florida and part of the Town of Warwick.  

• Phone: 845-291-4800

• Email: jredeker@orangecountygov.com

Phone & Email Script:

My name is ___ and I am reaching out as a fellow New Yorker due to my concern about ICE detention in Orange County Jail.  [If you are from Orange County or have any connections to it, be sure to say so.] 

I appreciate that you recently visited Orange County Jail.  However, your visit was an announced one, which means the jail had time to prepare things for your review in advance and make it look as good as possible. I am concerned about your failure to acknowledge the long-term and well-documented horrific conditions for individuals in ICE detention at the jail.  OCJ is one of the nation’s worst immigration detention centers, highlighted by reporting on complaints to DHS’s Office of Civil Rights and Civil Liberties.  People in ICE detention and their attorneys report inedible food, unsanitary conditions, abusive treatment from guards, and access to counsel issues.  

I urge you to continue investigating conditions for people detained by ICE in OCJ, ideally by making an unannounced visit, and use your position to urge the county to end its complicity in ICE's violence by ending the detention contract at OCJ.