NEWBURGH, N.Y. – New York officials and residents are demanding answers after the federal government leased a warehouse in the Town of Newburgh for $35.57 million. While the Trump administration hasn’t specified its purpose, federal documents suggest it could be for the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE).

The General Services Administration (GSA) awarded a 15-year lease on June 24 to a Texas-based contractor Leverage Enterprises, Inc. According to federal records, desired requirements for the space include a dedicated sally port for “detainee buses and vans,” 24/7 government access, an emergency generator, and other security measures.

READ: Federal Government Leases Newburgh Warehouse for $35.5 Million, Records Suggest ICE Activity

Hundreds rallied in Algonquin Park in Newburgh on Tuesday night against a potential ICE facility in Orange County. 

Sister Yliana Hernández of the Sisters of the Presentation of the Blessed Virgin Mary congregation in New Windsor urged the crowd to “open doors, not detention centers.”

“ We’re living in a moment where fear is being weaponized, where immigrants are being demonized, where famil[ies] seeking safety are being treated like criminals, and we are told over and over this is normal. Well, I am here to tell you this is not normal. This is not moral,” said Hernández.

The protest was organized by a coalition including Indivisible, Fuerza Newburgh, the Democratic & Working Families Party, and others.

U.S. Representative Pat Ryan, who represents New York’s 18th congressional district, said he hasn’t received any information from the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) or the Trump administration.

“The second we heard about this facility in Newburgh, we immediately made a strong formal request with a bunch of questions that we asked. They have not been responsive,” said Ryan, whose district encompasses large parts of the Hudson Valley. “We will keep pushing but frankly, they’ve been just a completely unaccountable, a black-box-kind-of an administration.”

Radio Catskill reached out to ICE but did not hear back. GSA did not respond to our questions about the purpose of the Newburgh warehouse but said that it was “committed to working with all of our partner agencies to meet their workspace needs.”

“We remain focused on supporting this administration’s goal of fortifying the federal footprint, and providing the best workplaces for our federal agencies to meet their mission,” a GSA spokesperson told Radio Catskill in an email.

Still, Ryan is hopeful that Tuesday’s large crowds are an encouraging sign that many residents oppose a growing ICE presence in the Hudson Valley. 

“As people hear about this – just like the Chester facility – I know there will be a near unanimous rejection of this, facility, too,” said Ryan.

In January, residents and lawmakers fiercely pushed back against a proposed ICE detention facility in Chester. If built, the facility could have detained up to 1,500 people. ICE has since abandoned its detention plans in Chester, according to New York Assemblymember Brian Maher.

Manny Tirado, an Orange County resident and NAACP Middletown community leader, was among the hundreds that staunchly opposed the proposed Chester facility. He says he’s surprised he’s now fighting a similar battle months later in Newburgh.

“I would’ve thought that we were successful in pushing back against the proposal in Chester, that the [Trump] administration wouldn’t try to do it elsewhere in Orange County,” said Tirado. “I’m disappointed and I’m angry and I’m more worried.”

The single-story warehouse lease is for 42,377 square feet. Federal records don’t list the property location, but GSA’s property inventory lists 800 Corporate Boulevard as a leased property that matches the square foot measurements of the lease award.

The warehouse is about a mile from Stewart International Airport’s National Guard Base – which doubles as a public and military airport – off of Route 17K.

Orange County Legislator Genesis Ramos says poor economic development has left the county susceptible to bad actors. 

“Now we have vacant warehouses throughout [Orange] County that have just created fertile ground for us to be targeted by the federal government for these inhumane detention centers,” said Ramos, who represents the Town of Newburgh . “Yesterday, it was Chester. Today, it’s Newburgh. Tomorrow, it could be any other municipality with a vacant warehouse. I think that DHS will continue to push the bounds and push the limits.”

She and other local officials have said they haven’t received any information about the purpose of the facility from the federal government.

Attendees shared a moment of silence during the rally after finding out that a man in Houston, Texas was shot and killed by an ICE agent during a ‘targeted enforcement operation’ on Tuesday.

The Orange County Jail has served as an immigration detention facility since 2008, though new state law passed earlier this year voids any agreements between New York’s local jails housing ICE detainees.

ICE has an existing field office for the Principal Legal Advisor in Newburgh a five-minute drive from the newly leased federal warehouse. The federal agency also quietly leased a New Windsor office in 2025 through a GSA contract. 

Organizers say they plan to continue voicing their concerns at the Town of Newburgh’s next board meeting on July 13.

Image: Local and federal lawmakers and residents gathered at an anti-ICe rally in Newburgh on July 7, 2026 (Photo Credit: Kimberly Izar)