A new federal contract in Newburgh has renewed concerns about U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE)’s growing presence in the Mid-Hudson Valley region.

The General Services Administration (GSA) awarded a contract to Chicago-based Cotter Consulting, LLC for “repair or alteration of office buildings” in Newburgh, New York. The contract does not include an address or identify the property the repairs or alterations are for.

While GSA is listed as the awarding agency, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) is listed as the funding agency, with ICE listed as the funding sub-agency. ‘Enforcement and Removal Operations New York’ is listed as the funding office.

Federal records list the contract award for $172,825, starting on September 25, 2026, and ending on May 14, 2027. The contract is listed on the USASpending.gov website, the U.S. government’s open data source of federal spending.

Radio Catskill reached out to GSA and ICE for comment. GSA declined to provide a comment for publication, and ICE did not respond before publication. We also reached out to Town of Newburgh Supervisor Gil Piaquadio but did not hear back before publication.

Residents, officials want answers

The latest federal contract comes after hundreds rallied earlier this year to oppose a potential ICE facility in Newburgh. On June 24, the GSA awarded a 15-year lease to Texas-based contractor Leverage Enterprises, Inc. for $35.57 million. The lease was for a 42,377-square-foot warehouse in Newburgh. 

Federal records did not list the property location, but GSA’s property inventory previously listed 800 Corporate Boulevard in Newburgh as a GSA-leased property that matched the square-foot measurements of the lease award. The agency’s inventory no longer lists 800 Corporate Boulevard as a leased property as of Oct. 9.

While the Trump administration did not specify the lease’s purpose, federal records suggest it could be for ICE operations. Since then, local and state officials, including U.S. Representative Pat Ryan and New York Governor Kathy Hochul, have pushed for answers.

Hochul sent a letter to DHS Secretary Markwayne Mullin on July 12 with questions about ICE’s expanded presence in Batavia, Rochester, and Newburgh. 

According to reporting from POLITICO, ICE responded to Hochul in a letter on Aug. 28, saying that “there is no detention center being pursued in Newburgh at this time. There is, however, an acquisition underway to identify a new facility to lease through the General Services Administration to house ICE’s Homeland Security Investigations, Enforcement and Removal Operations, and Office of the Principal Legal Advisor at the Hudson Valley field offices.”

Still, residents are calling for clearer answers on how the federal contracts play into ICE’s broader strategy of mass deportations.

“The latest GSA contract award identifying Newburgh is another indication that federal activity may be moving forward while the Town stays silent,” said Megan Galbraith, co-lead of local advocacy group Newburgh Resists and Indivisible. “Our request is straightforward: put the proposed ICE facility formally on the Town Board’s agenda and work with the community to pursue every avenue available—legislative, legal, zoning and environmental—to stop the expansion of DHS operations in Newburgh.”

Reporting from WIRED earlier this year revealed that ICE quietly leased an office in New Windsor in Orange County in 2025 about two miles from Stewart International Airport. ICE also has an existing field office for the Principal Legal Advisor in Newburgh.

Both the Town of Newburgh and the Orange County Legislature passed resolutions this past summer opposing an ICE detention warehouse in Newburgh.

Newburgh Resists plans to rally ahead of the upcoming Town of Newburgh Board meeting on Oct. 13 to voice concerns about the potential facility and new federal contract.