ICE Archives - Focal Point: Lives In The Balance

Behind the Docket

June 15, 2026

One month, six universities, 62 students, 1,025 proceedings: Scenes from an overstrained immigration system in America.

Outside Batavia's ICE Detention Center sits a blue sign in the snow that reads "U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement"

Life inside Upstate New York’s ICE detention center

June 13, 2026

A delayed Christmas, detainee testimony and a surprise DHS inspection offer a rare window into conditions inside the Buffalo Federal Detention Facility in Batavia.

The Work Ethic Camp, located off Highway 83 in McCook, Nebraska, on March 28, 2026. Nebraska signed a two-year contract with the U.S. Department of Homeland Security to use the facility dubbed “Cornhusker Clink” as a federal ICE detention center.

Financial questions linger over ‘Cornhusker Clink’

June 13, 2026

Eight months after an ICE detention facility opened in rural Nebraska, questions remain about promised economic benefits to the state.

Elizabeth Ramirez-Abram was left behind when her husband, Hediberto ‘Eddie’ Ramirez, was deported to Guatemala.

ICE split her family apart

June 12, 2026

A Central New York father of two was deported without a hearing, devasting the wife and sons he left behind.

A middle-aged man detained by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, with no criminal record, a 15-year history with his local church, and a U.S. citizen wife and children, sat in an Eloy, Arizona, immigration court.

ICE expansion after 9/11 attacks

June 9, 2026

The 9/11 attacks preceded the signing of the Homeland Security Act in 2002, which led to the creation of ICE. Now, it’s the U.S.’s highest-funded law enforcement agency.