Yisroel R.

Orange County has officially ended its agreement with federal immigration authorities to house ICE detainees at the Orange County Jail in Goshen, bringing the county into compliance with a new state law that required such detention contracts to be terminated.

The contract with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement allowed federal detainees to be held at the county jail while their immigration cases moved through the system. With the agreement now ended, Orange County will no longer hold detainees on behalf of ICE under that arrangement.

What remains unclear is where and when the detainees who had been held in Goshen will be transferred. County officials have said that ICE, rather than Orange County, is responsible for arranging and carrying out those moves, leaving local officials without clear information on where the detainees will be sent.

The change follows a new New York law requiring counties and local governments to end agreements used to detain people for federal immigration authorities by late August. Orange County terminated its contract by the state-mandated deadline, even as local law enforcement officials have voiced opposition to the new restrictions.

Orange County Sheriff Paul Arteta is among the sheriffs challenging the law in federal court, arguing that the state is improperly limiting cooperation with federal immigration authorities. For now, however, the Goshen jail’s role in housing ICE detainees has come to an end, marking a significant shift in how immigration detention is handled in Orange County.