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ICE presence in Albany draws protest

Jul 06, 2018 12:03 pm
Alex Kotch and Josefa Velasquez report at Sludge.com about which New York companies, non-profits, and governments are making money from the federal government's Immigrations Customs and Enforcement agency. Part of the Department of Homeland Security, the relatively new agency has little infrastructure of its own, so it has many contracts around the country. Locally, the state of New York is the only entity receiving ICE money, with a $15,000 contract in the city of Albany. In Utica, the Central Association for the Blind is getting over $52,000 from ICE, and M.L. Enterprises, Inc. receives over a half million dollars in Middletown in Orange County. The Albany Times Union reported about a July 6 ICE protest in Latham, where the agency has an office. The activist group ICE-Free Capital District called for an end to the Trump administration's treatment of immigrants, and for eliminating the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency at the protest. The Latham ICE office is used to process detainees and for immigration check-ins, according to the Times Union. There are also reportedly more than 230 migrants being held in Albany County jail, and one child, separated from his mother, held in Kingston.