ICE Proposal Targets Chester Warehouse for New Processing Facility
Draft internal ICE documents identified a 401,000-square-foot former Pep Boys warehouse in the village of Chester as a proposed processing center for migrants, part of a network that could handle thousands nationwide. The plan prompted immediate pushback from Rep. Pat Ryan and local officials who say they were not formally notified and who worry about impacts on infrastructure, county facilities and the treatment of people in custody.
Federal draft internal ICE documents identified a disused 401,000-square-foot warehouse in the village of Chester in Orange County as a proposed immigration processing facility, according to materials circulated on Jan. 6, 2026. The documents describe a network of up to 16 processing centers, each designed for 500 to 1,500 people, that would funnel to several larger detention centers elsewhere in the system.
Local elected officials and civic leaders responded with concern and criticism. U.S. Rep. Pat Ryan joined local voices opposing the proposal, while town and village officials said they had not received formal notice from federal authorities about any plans for the Chester site. The facility, formerly used by an auto parts business, remains vacant; its reuse as a federal processing center would mark a dramatic change for the quiet village and surrounding communities.
The immediate local implications center on infrastructure and capacity. Officials warned the scale of processing thousands of people could strain roads, emergency services and municipal systems that serve a largely residential and small-business area. Orange County has prior experience with immigration detention: the county jail has been used to hold immigrants and has been the subject of litigation and criticism over medical care and treatment of people in custody. Those precedents sharpen community scrutiny of any expanded federal operations in the county.
Beyond local logistics, the proposal carries wider legal and diplomatic resonances. Large-scale processing and detention operations intersect with federal obligations on due process, access to counsel and healthcare for people in custody. Advocates and immigrant-rights groups have previously raised allegations of abuses tied to detention practices; those concerns amplify anxieties about new centers that would process and move large numbers of people through a centralized system.
For Orange County residents, the debate is both practical and symbolic. Economically, repurposing a vacant warehouse could promise federal investment and jobs, but it also risks social disruption and reputational costs for communities hoping to maintain local control and humane standards. Politically, the plan arrives amid national debates over border policy and migration management, where local decisions can become focal points for broader partisan and international discussions about treatment of migrants and asylum seekers.
Town and county officials now face decisions about demanding formal briefings from federal agencies, securing assurances on oversight and care standards, and coordinating with state and federal partners. As the community seeks clarity, the Chester proposal underscores how national migration policy can quickly become a local governance and human-rights issue in Orange County.
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