Attorneys and Advocates: Governor Murphy, It’s Time to Ban ICE Contracts in the Garden State
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
August 4, 2021
Contact:
Brett Robertson, North New Jersey Democratic Socialists of America, wbrettrobertson@yahoo.com
Jeff Migliozzi, Freedom for Immigrants, jmigliozzi@freedomforimmigrants.org
NEWARK, N.J. – Immigration attorneys are joining advocates with the Abolish ICE NY-NJ Coalition to urge New Jersey Governor Phil Murphy to sign S3361/A5207, legislation that would prohibit the state from entering into or renewing contracts with Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). Governor Murphy has until August 8 to sign the legislation into law before the bill would have to wait months for the Legislature to reconvene in order to automatically become law.
The proposed law, which passed both houses of the New Jersey Legislature more than a month ago, receives overwhelming support from immigrant communities and immigrant justice advocates. The law would make New Jersey the fifth state to pass legislation to ban or limit immigration detention.
“This legislation will help dismantle the unjust immigration detention system by reducing ICE’s capacity and advancing the long-term safety of New Jersey immigrant communities. There is no justice in this system, and people must be released as detention contracts wind down,” said Jordan Weiner, an immigration attorney with American Friends Service Committee. “ICE maintains the authority to release people in its custody, as well as its discretion to end its practice of retaliatory and punitive transfers.”
“Now is the time for Governor Murphy to decide whether he stands with New Jersey’s immigrant communities or with the inhumane immigration detention system,” said Delaney Rohan, a New Jersey resident and immigration attorney at The Legal Aid Society of New York City who represents people detained in New Jersey. “If he stands with immigrants, the Governor must sign S3361/A5207 and bring an end to the cruelty of ICE detention in New Jersey.”
Patrick Julney, currently detained in Bergen County Jail, notes that “ICE uses transfers as a weapon” and urges Governor Murphy to sign the legislation without further delay. “We got the state Legislature to pass a bill banning future ICE contracts,” Julney writes. “It’s sitting on Governor Murphy’s desk, and he needs to sign it! The people of New Jersey want ICE out – he needs to get on board.”
“It’s clear that New Jerseyans are fed up with our state’s involvement in the dehumanizing ICE detention system,” said Brett Robertson of North Jersey Democratic Socialists of America. “Even the Essex County commissioners, who themselves have contracted with ICE for years, have formally endorsed the bill. As Governor Murphy’s own re-election website states, our state is stronger when immigrants can thrive. But forcing immigrant communities in New Jersey to live under the constant fear of immigration detention is not consistent with a ‘thriving’ community.”
“By signing this law, Governor Murphy can be on the right side of history and usher in a new era of justice and opportunity for immigrant communities in New Jersey,” said Tania Mattos, policy and northeast monitoring manager with Freedom for Immigrants. “No matter where we come from or how we arrived in the U.S., everyone deserves to live in safety and dignity.”
BACKGROUND
The New Jersey legislation began in part as a response to ICE exploring an expansion of its detention capacity in New Jersey, which was at odds with the years-long grassroots movement to reduce such capacity, along with reducing and eliminating detention itself. Since then, all three counties that contract with ICE (Bergen, Essex, and Hudson) have indicated plans to curtail or terminate their policies of carrying out ICE detention as county revenue streams. CoreCivic, the operator of the one private detention facility in the state, the Elizabeth Detention Center, faces a lawsuit from the owner of the detention facility to end its lease. S3361/A5207 prevents future ICE contracts but does not terminate existing contracts.
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