CHESTER - U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials said Tuesday they had made a "mistake" after falsely claiming to have bought a warehouse owned by a former Trump adviser where the agency wants to build a detention center in the Hudson Valley.
Last week, an ICE spokesperson told several news outlets, including the Times Union, that it had purchased the disused Pep Boys warehouse at 29 Elizabeth Drive in the village of Chester. But Orange County had no record of a sale, and ICE retracted its claim Tuesday evening.
"ICE has NOT purchased a facility in Chester, New York," a spokesperson wrote in an email Tuesday evening. "That statement was sent without proper approval and this mistake has since been rectified."
Multiple news outlets reported ICE's erroneous statement that it had bought the warehouse, apparently without verifying whether it was true.
The Times Union reported at the time that Orange County officials and property records could not confirm the sale. Orange County Executive Steve Neuhaus later released a video in which he called ICE's claims that it had purchased the warehouse "a rumor" and said federal officials had not reached out to him about it. Orange County Deputy Clerk James McGee and county attorney Richard Golden said no new deeds have been recorded or filed for transferring ownership.
The warehouse was last sold on Dec. 29, 2021, when an LLC owned by Carl Icahn acquired the property, records show. Icahn served as an adviser to President...
It is a shame that people will not perform any basic research before making false claims in an effort to stir up a frenzy when there doesn’t seem to be an issue. However, Charles Varni’s recent at...