\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.wgrz.com\/assets\/shared-images\/icons\/arrow-circle-down.svg\"){kind=icon}
<\/p>\nOn Friday a judge ordered a bond hearing for Keiber Alexander Esposito Martinez related to his detention at the ICE facility in Batavia. <\/p>\n
BUFFALO, N.Y. \u2014 The Buffalo Federal Detention Facility in Batavia is seeing an increase in its average population compared to years past.<\/p>\n
Right now, it’s in the top 17% of detention centers when looking at overall average daily population.<\/p>\n
So far in 2026, the Batavia facility has had an average daily population of 698.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\n
<\/p>\n
\n This story continues below.
<\/p>\n
By comparison, the average daily population was 549 in 2024, a 27% increase.<\/p>\n
According to the latest data released in July from the Department of Homeland Security, 84% of detainees at Batavia this year have no criminal record.<\/p>\n
“From what I’ve seen in my practice, they’re going after everybody,” said Immigration lawyer Ryan Witmer.<\/p>\n
Detainees like Keiber Alexander Esposito Martinez fit that statistic. Two On Your Side first told you about him on Monday. He’s a chef at Casa Azul in Allentown, a Venezuelan national who sought asylum in June 2023.<\/p>\n
“Keiber actually did exactly what he was supposed to do, by the book,” Witmer said. “He didn’t have a visa to come to the United States, but he went to the legal entry point, explained what he was doing there, and he was allowed to come in and make his application.”<\/p>\n
According to his attorney, he faces a similar challenge that thousands of detainees are facing. They were allowed to stay in the United States while their asylum cases played out in court under a previous administration, but policy changes under the current administration have made them targets for detention.<\/p>\n
“It’s like a limbo, it’s not illegal, but it’s also not legal,” Witmer said. “The removal proceeding, his immigration court, is the process of determining whether he gets to stay here or not.”<\/p>\n
“That’s why someone like him doesn’t just get put on a plane and flown back to Venezuela,” Witmer continued. “They go through this court process so the lawyers can do their jobs, and the judge will listen to the application and decide whether he gets asylum or not.”<\/p>\n
Martinez, known as Chef Alex, was picked up by ICE on August 17th. As Two On Your Side previously reported, his attorneys filed a lawsuit to prevent his quick transfer to an out-of-state detention facility, a practice highlighted earlier this year in a report that showed a clear pattern of ICE flights out of Buffalo, part of a network that shipped detainees to different facilities around the country.<\/p>\n
In a statement to Two On Your Side, a spokesperson for ICE said the following:<\/p>\n
“On August 17, ICE officers from upstate New York arrested illegal alien Keiber Alexander Esposito-Martinez during a targeted enforcement operation in Buffalo, New York. Esposito last entered the U.S. in El Paso, Texas in June 2023 and was released into the country by the open-borders Biden administration. Esposito remains in ICE custody pending the outcome of court proceedings. He will be afforded all due process. Pending applications do NOT confer legal status.\u201d<\/p>\n
In court documents filed on Friday, Chef Alex was granted a bond hearing that will take place in the next seven days.<\/p>\n
Martinez has worked at Casa Azul in Allentown for three years. Starting at noon on Sunday, September 6, the restaurant will host a fundraiser for him and his family to assist with legal expenses.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Tickets can be purchased here, and more information can be found on their website.\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
On Friday a judge ordered a bond hearing for Keiber Alexander Esposito Martinez related to his detention at the ICE facility in Batavia. BUFFALO, N.Y. \u2014 The Buffalo Federal Detention Facility in Batavia is seeing an increase in its average population compared to years past. Right now, it’s in the top 17% of detention centers<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":6160,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[5],"class_list":["post-6159","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-chefs","tag-chef"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/vive.im\/@dnc\/117235577226892496","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.diningandcooking.com\/chefs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6159","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.diningandcooking.com\/chefs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.diningandcooking.com\/chefs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.diningandcooking.com\/chefs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.diningandcooking.com\/chefs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6159"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.diningandcooking.com\/chefs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6159\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.diningandcooking.com\/chefs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/6160"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.diningandcooking.com\/chefs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6159"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.diningandcooking.com\/chefs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6159"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.diningandcooking.com\/chefs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6159"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}