Batavia, N.Y. (Investigativepost.org) - The Citgo off the Batavia exit of the Thruway is a typical gas station: a convenience store with 10 gas pumps. It doubles as a Greyhound bus stop.
It’s also the drop-off point for people just released from the nearby detention center managed by Immigration and Customs Enforcement, or ICE.
Matt Thompson has seen it happen over and over since he started working at the station four months ago.
“The way they treat them, I don’t agree with,” the 20-year Army veteran told Investigative Post. “They drop them off and they treat them like animals. They kick them out of the van, pretty much, and that’s it.”
ICE routinely drops people off after the two early morning buses have departed the Citgo station, forcing the detainees to find other transportation or wait almost a full day for the next bus, said Thompson, who served tours of duty in Iraq and Kuwait. Sometimes detainees are released without enough money to buy a ticket.
The Buffalo Federal Detention Facility is located less than a mile from the gas station. It’s one of about 25 immigrant detention centers ICE manages around the country.
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