Hudson Valley officials and residents want to know why U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement employees have quietly set up shop in a New Windsor office building. Business owner Tiffany Maurice was anxious Thursday upon learning ICE has been working out of the building on Route 300 for the past three months.

Considering that ICE opened two other offices in northern New Jersey and Long Island and is trying to put a detention center in nearby Chester, Maurice wonders what is next for her neighbors.

She said ICE agents were aggressive during a recent visit to her apartment building.

She says she shivers to imagine a large, coordinated campaign of the same forcefulness.

"They asked. They showed me pictures. They showed me pictures of kids," she said of the visit. "And then they re-question me. When I say I haven't seen those people in this building, they say, 'Well, how long have you been here?'"

Several other Newburgh and New Windsor residents expressed that they understand ICE's mission. They have doubts, though, based on what they saw out of ICE's recent surge in Minneapolis.

"I know they're trying to get bad people or whatever," one man said. "I sort of see what they're trying to do, but then again, I don't agree with all of it."

New Windsor Town Supervisor Stephen Bedetti said the ICE employees at the location have been "flying under the radar."

In a Zoom interview Thursday, Bedetti told News 12 that once he learned Tuesday that ICE is leasing the office space, he went straight to the building to talk to staff and the building's owner.

Bedetti said ICE is not using the space for detention, which would be a code violation and that he will continue to monitor ICE's operations there.

He is annoyed he received no prior notification that ICE was setting up shop along the highway.

"The transparency thing bothers me," he said, "because I am transparent and try to be [transparent] as much as I can with all of my constituents here, and yet I'm not getting that on my side. It's not right."

Rep. Pat Ryan sent a letter this week with several questions to U.S. Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem and Acting ICE Director Todd Lyons.

One question is about whether the New Windsor office is connected to ICE's plans for the Chester detention facility News 12 has reported on.

Ryan said that especially after the Minneapolis surge that resulted in several civilian injuries and two deaths, "we should all be concerned about their repeated attempts to move into our community."

In a statement sent late Thursday to News 12, an ICE spokesperson declined to speak in detail about the agency's operations.

“ICE will not confirm office locations," she wrote, "as our officers are facing a coordinated campaign of violence against them including an 8,000% increase in death threats against them and a 1,300% increase in assaults against them."

Rep. Ryan is demanding that Noem answer his questions by Feb. 20.

The questions include:

1. When did ICE first lease or occupy 843 Union Ave. in New Windsor, NY?

2. What is the duration and total cost of the lease?

3. What is the specific purpose of this office and what operations are being conducted? How many personnel are stationed there, and what roles do they occupy?

4. Why was no notification given to local and federal elected officials before ICE began operations?

5. Will individuals be detained at this location? If so, for how long and under what conditions?

6. Is this office connected to your agency's plans to convert the warehouse in Chester, NY into a detention facility - the facility your agency reportedly described as operating “Like Prime, but with human beings”?