Resident asks whether DHS/ICE will operate in Middletown; city official says renovated courthouse will be for city courts, not immigration detention

During the public-comment portion of the Police Commission meeting, audience member Alan Peterson asked whether the Department of Homeland Security or U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement was likely to purchase or use buildings in Middletown, citing recent reporting about activity in nearby Chester, and whether the building at 25 South Street was being renovated for court administration or for potential federal/detention use.

A city official responded after asking for Peterson's name. The official said the city purchased the old federal court building with grant support (a purchase aided by funding tied to then-Assemblywoman Gunther) and that subsequent renovation was partially funded by the state ("the state, through Senator Scoofus, funded about $3,000,000 of the $6,000,000 cost for renovation"). The official said the renovated facility will operate as a Middletown court facility — part of the regional court system the city supports — and that court staff are state employees; city employees would handle building maintenance. "It will operate as a city of Middletown Court, nothing to do with ICE, nothing to do with any type of detention facility," the official said.

The official also said the city had opposed an ICE facility in nearby Chester and believed ICE had "retracted" any claim it had purchased that building. The official said the city would strongly oppose any ICE attempt to open a detention facility in Middletown and expected county and state partners to join that opposition.

Peterson thanked the officials for the clarification. The chief and commission then closed the public portion of the meeting and moved into executive session on personnel matters.