For years, the sprawling jail complex in Essex County, N.J., where hundreds of undocumented immigrants have been held under a contract with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement while awaiting court hearings, has been at the center of a fierce debate over federal immigration policy that peaked during the Trump administration.
UpdatedFri, Apr 30, 2021 at 1:30 pm ET
Replies(120)
(NJ MVC)
NEW JERSEY More changes have come to the New Jersey Motor Vehicle Commission now that the agency continues to deal with the impact of the coronavirus pandemic.
Brenda Sue Fulton, the chief administrator of the Motor Vehicle Commission, said the agency has overhauled its technical infrastructure to help move the vast majority of transactions online. Not that things are rosy, now – far from it. Not when six to 12 agencies are closed due to staff quarantines on any given day, Fulton told the state Senate Budget and Appropriations Committee on Thursday. Hearing that we are doing 20 percent more transactions than before COVID is no consolation if it s your appointment that was canceled.
But a number of progressive groups were far from cheering that announcement.
After months and even years protesting such ICE contracts, among the most radical advocates lamented the idea that the jail would still be housing any inmates, pointing to a recent deal for the facility to take on prisoners from Union County.
“We cannot celebrate an end to an ICE contract when the Essex county officials continue to be committed to profiting off of incarcerating people,” a tweet from The New Jersey Alliance for Immigrant Justice said. “This is not what justice looks like.”
There also was concern that the 164 ICE detainees being held at Essex County as of Thursday might be transferred out of state.
View Comments
The Bergen County Jail in Hackensack on Thursday was housing 97 detainees for U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
A few miles away at the Hudson County jail in Kearny, there were 48 federal immigration detainees
The numbers are far fewer than the hundreds each jail housed during the height of the Trump administration, which took a hard-line approach on illegal immigration, leading to increased arrests and detentions and bringing millions into county coffers. On Thursday, officials in both counties said they are not accepting any more immigration detainees, raising questions about whether they will join Essex County in ending the long-standing practice of housing ICE detainees.
Top Hudson County officials signal openness to ending contract with ICE
Updated Apr 29, 2021;
Posted Apr 29, 2021
Graciela Barreto,43, of Union City, played guitar/sang, at the New Labor group immigrant & detainee right protest at the Hudson County Jail on May 9, 2010. Michael T. Dempsey / The Jersey Journal EJAEJA
Facebook Share
Two top Hudson County officials have signaled their openness to ending a contract with the federal Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), a sign of gathering momentum behind the push to end the controversial deal.
In an interview Wednesday, Hudson County Executive Tom DeGise said that, “under certain circumstances,” he is open to the prospect of exiting the contract, under which ICE pays the county $120 per person per day to house detainees at the Hudson County jail in Kearny.