Profit-Prison Corp. Sues Murphy, AG Over NJ's Last Immigrat-Detention Center

ELIZABETH, NJ — A profit-prison corporation, which runs New Jersey's last-standing immigrant detention center, sued Gov. Phil Murphy and the state attorney general over a 2021 law that will prevent the company from renewing its contract with federal authorities. CoreCivic's contract to operate the Elizabeth Detention Center is set to end in August.

In the federal lawsuit, filed Friday, CoreCivic claims that a New Jersey law restricting immigrant detention violates the U.S. Constitution. The law prohibits private detention facilities from beginning, renewing or extending immigration-detention agreements.

CoreCivic claims the New Jersey regulations violate the Constitution's Supremacy Clause, which establishes that federal law generally takes precedence over state laws. The corporation has been contracted to manage the Elizabeth facility since 1996 — going back to the days of Immigration and Naturalization Services (INS), the federal agency that preceded U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE).

Murphy and Attorney General Matthew J. Platkin are the lawsuit's lone defendants. A spokesperson for the governor declined comment since the litigation remains active. The New Jersey Office of the Attorney General also declined to comment.

CoreCivic entered its most recent contract with ICE for the Elizabeth facility in 2005. The arrangement included an initial base period of three years, allowing the federal government up to five three-year renewal periods. ICE exercised its renewal options, and the fifth and final renewal period ends Aug. 31.

The contract's expiration would essentially end the federal agency's carceral presence in New Jersey. The controversial detention contracts with ICE had been lucrative, with Bergen, Essex and Hudson Counties previously charging the agency as much as $120 daily per detainee.

The 2021 New Jersey law cites the state's responsibility to protect the health and safety of everyone in the state, including people detained.

"Detention centers and correctional facilities in New Jersey have a history of poor conditions," the law states, "including inadequate medical and mental health care, use of isolated confinement, and incidents of violence and retaliation against people in detention."

Besides the Elizabeth facility, only one other New Jersey detention center remains authorized for ICE's use: the Bergen County Jail. But on Nov. 12, 2021, the jail's final 15 ICE detainees were transferred to a federal detention center in Western New York State.

When the Elizabeth contract expires, "ICE will be forced to entirely transform its approach to detention in the State," the lawsuit says. "And CoreCivic will be unable to continue serving as ICE's contract partner for the same purposes."

In the lawsuit, CoreCivic cited a legal challenge against the state of California for a similar law preventing private companies from entering new contracts to operate jails, prisons or other detention centers. Last September, a federal appeals court found the California law unconstitutional, sending the case back to a lower court.

However, high courts have allowed some state laws deteriorating the collaboration with immigration enforcement to stand. In June 2020, the U.S. Supreme Court declined to take up a case in which the Trump administration challenged whether local governments could declare themselves "sanctuaries" and refuse to help federal agents enforce immigration regulations.

Without the contract, CoreCivic will lose out on $18 million in annual revenue over the next four years, the lawsuit states. CoreCivic has reported roughly $2 billion in annual revenue.

Formerly named the Corrections Corporation of America, CoreCivic rebranded in 2016 amid growing scrutiny of the profit-prison industry.