Trump Billionaire Pal Plans Possible Mini Concentration Camp in Chester
The Washington Post revealed a plan for an ICE processing center at the former Pep Boys warehouse in Chester, New York
(Note to readers: The Monroe Gazette is still on vacation until January 5, 2026, but since everyone keeps emailing me about this story …)
Pictured Above: 29 Elizabeth Drive in Chester, New York, is the site of a former Pep Boys warehouse owned and operated by IEP Chester LLC. IEP Chester is a subsidiary of billionaire Trump donor Carl C. Icahn’s Icahn Enterprises L.P.
According to documents obtained by The Washington Post, the Trump regime’s Department of Homeland Security is looking to establish a potential processing site in Chester, New York, for Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) that may house between 500 and 1,500 people. This move corresponds with the exploding number of ICE detentions across New York State and facilities such as Orange County Jail.
As Monroe Gazette readers know, residents of Monroe, New York, have been adamant about getting ICE out of their community, so it follows that they will be none too pleased to discover an even greater ICE presence in the town next door.
Many people rounded up by ICE are detained against their will and held without due process. According to ICE’s own data, over 72% of people detained by the agency in 2025 have no criminal convictions.
2025 is the deadliest year for ICE detainees since 2004, with 23 confirmed deaths reported by the American Immigration Council.
A probe by the U.S. Senate found over 100 human rights abuses since the Trump Pogrom began.
Your friends at The Monroe Gazette would like to remind you that, regardless of the circumstances behind someone’s residency in the United States, the 14th Amendment of our Constitution guarantees everyone the right to equal treatment under the law. This includes the right to due process (5th and 14th Amendments), protection from unreasonable search and seizure (4th Amendment), a fair and speedy trial for criminal cases (6th Amendment), and protection from cruel and unusual punishment (8th Amendment).
It does not matter what you or anyone thinks about people being here “illegally.” What matters is what the Constitution and our laws say. The law states that ICE is in violation of our Constitution in its treatment of not only people here “illegally,” but also numerous U.S. citizens who have been unlawfully rounded up by ICE.
A campaign organized by Hands Off Hudson Valley is underway to have the local governments of Chester, Monroe, Woodbury, Palm Tree, and Blooming Grove issue resolutions demanding that State Senator James G. Skoufis and the lone Democratic Assemblyman, Chris Eachus, ensure that the New York For All Act and New York MELT Act are passed as soon as possible when the New York State government reconvenes on January 7.
So, if you’d like to get involved with that campaign, here is your reminder that Hands Off Hudson Valley’s next Stand Up is at 1pm on Saturday, January 10th on the corner of Lake Street and Route 17M in the Village of Monroe, New York. All are welcome to attend.
(Disclosure: I am a steering committee member of Hands Off Hudson Valley.)
As stated before at The Monroe Gazette, the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum describes a concentration camp as a place where people are held indefinitely, outside normal legal processes, and where prisoners are subjected to daily dehumanizing experiences such as what ICE detainees experienced in Florida.
So, to us, these ICE facilities are little different than a concentration camp. And since my Grandmother’s family was wiped out by the Nazis — while I don’t have the lived experience of being held in a concentration camp — I’d like to think I know one when I see one, and these ICE facilities are one.
Additionally, my grandfather’s family — The Mendelsons — alongside two million other Russian Jews, was chased out of Russia through an organized harassment campaign by the government and its people. While it’s not clear how many people have left the United States since the start of 2025, it is clear that people are leaving because of the organized harassment campaign undertaken by Trump and Stephen Miller. The latter of whom is the chief architect behind the ICE terror campaign and should be tried at The Hague like Hermann Goering when all of this is over.
And to be clear, the Trump Regime will come to an end, and anyone who committed a crime while serving in it should be prosecuted to the fullest extent of not only our laws but international law as well.
This is a promise Congressman Pat Ryan can and should make to every resident of our district. If we forget the lesson of Gerald Ford pardoning Richard Nixon—or the lesson of Joe Biden failing to prosecute Trump vigorously upon being sworn in as president—we will someday find ourselves back here again with another group of unaccountable individuals running our government, whether they are Democrats or Republicans. The party label does not matter. The lawlessness does.
As it says in the Halakhah, “dina d’malkhuta dina.” The law of the land is the law. We must all follow it.
Who Benefits?
Pictured Above: Ownership history of 29 Elizabeth Drive reveals the warehouse is owned by IEP Chester LLC, which sued the Town of Chester in early 2025 over its tax assessment.
Lost in the coverage so far concerning the Chester facility is this: IEP Chester LLC is owned by Carl C. Icahn’s Icahn Enterprises L.P.
Icahn was previously involved with the Trump administration during Trump’s first term in office, and like many of the corrupt individuals currently surrounding the mentally and physically impaired Trump in his second term, Icahn used his proximity to the president to enrich himself.
During the Biden administration, the SEC charged Icahn with a federal financial crime that is too boring and complicated to explain, except that it involved the use of shares belonging to Icahn Enterprises L.P., the company in question here. Icahn was fined and settled with the SEC for far too little money, but that’s typical. (See: Facebook settling with the FTC for violations of numerous privacy laws for $5 billion, which sounds like a lot until you remember that in 2024, Facebook reported a net income of $62.4 billion. “Net income” here means all the money the company made after deducting its expenses and taxes, etc.)
According to The Washington Post, the Department of Homeland Security is sending out feelers to private detention companies, meaning one of two things is possible here: Either Icahn’s Icahn Enterprises L.P. will lease its property in Chester, New York, to such a private prison company, or it may operate or acquire one to further profit from the fiscal bonanza currently being experienced by private detention contractors such as: the GEO Group, CoreCivic, LaSalle Corrections, and the Management & Training Corporation.
As it turns out, concentration camps are a booming business here in America.
We, of course, will keep you posted as things develop in Chester, New York.
On a related note:
Orange County and the Orange County Sheriff’s Department are currently withholding all documentation requested by The Monroe Gazette concerning their partnership with ICE related to the Orange County Jail.
On December 8, 2025, The Monroe Gazette requested media access to both the Orange County Jail and the wing of the Orange County Jail operated by the Department of Homeland Security. Neither Orange County Executive Steve Neuhaus, nor representatives from the Orange County Sheriff’s Department returned our repeated requests for access. The Department of Homeland Security also did not reply to our requests to visit the facility.