Politics & Government

Hudson County Plans To Sever Ties With ICE After Public Outcry

They marched, rallied and wept. Now, after years of protest from activists and families, Hudson County plans to end its contract with ICE.

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HUDSON COUNTY, NJ — They marched. They rallied. They wept. But finally, after years of steadfast protest from local activists and families of prisoners at the Hudson County Correctional Facility, there is a “path to exit” from Hudson County’s contract with the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency (ICE).

On Thursday, Hudson County officials announced that the county is moving to end its contract with ICE to hold federal detainees facing deportation.

Hudson County Executive Tom DeGise said that his administration will put the wheels into motion with a resolution to the Hudson County Board of Chosen Freeholders. The legislation – which is expected to be up for a vote next week – would end the county’s contract with ICE by 2020.

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The move would be a stunning about-face for the board, who voted 5-2 to renew the county’s controversial agreement last month. The freeholders’ decision inspired a lawsuit from a group of seven Hudson County clergy members, who claimed the vote violated the state’s Open Public Meetings Act.

ICE currently pays Hudson County $110 per bed/day to house an estimated 800 federal detainees. Many of those prisoners are from the state of New York, as well as the North Jersey area. According to the ACLU of New Jersey, Hudson County has been taking money from the federal government to hold immigrant detainees for 15 years… longer than ICE has existed as an agency.

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After the freeholders voted to renew the ICE contract in August, several immigration rights groups blasted the decision.

“It is disheartening that the majority of Hudson County Freeholders voted to continue the lucrative immigration detention contract with the federal immigration agency that often tears immigrant families apart,” said Chia-Chia Wang, organizing and advocacy director with the American Friends Service Committee Immigrant Rights Program.

“Hudson County chose profit over what's right,” Wang added.

Human rights activists have been decrying allegedly “inhumane” conditions at the jail for years, including suicide risks, spoiled food and medical care done on a “cost-benefit analysis” (read more about the charges below).

The alleged issues at the jail were further highlighted when Pablo Villavicencio, a delivery driver and family man, was arrested after he delivered a pizza to the Fort Hamilton military base on General Lee Avenue in Bay Ridge, Brooklyn.

A guard called ICE after Villavincencio used a municipal ID card to gain entry to the base, which prompted the guard to quiz the husband and father of two daughters about his immigration status. Immigration agents arrived and took Villavincencio — an Ecuadorian native married to a U.S. citizen — to the Hudson County Correctional Facility.

‘A PATH TO EXIT’

The seismic shift in county policy comes after weeks of meetings between DeGise and his staff, the freeholders, advocates for detainees and other elected officials.

“Just a month ago, I did not see a path that would allow us to move forward on a path to exit,” DeGise said. “I’m pleased that after what I have heard from state and federal leaders, I believe we have a consensus on how Hudson County can exit the contract in a responsible manner.”

According to DeGise, the plan will also direct additional funds from the contract to be spent on services for ICE detainees during the transition period, although the amount and target areas of the funding has yet to be decided.

Other efforts to improve conditions at the jail include a $5 million investment to build a new infirmary complex, as well as free prisoner legal services for civil detention cases, officials said.

Freeholder chairman Anthony Vainieri said the board’s about-face on ICE represents a “humane, reasonable approach.”

Hoboken Mayor Ravi Bhalla, who was one of several local officials to decry the county’s contract with ICE, also praised the decision.

“With this action, the County Executive and the Freeholders have begun the work of dealing with this issue in keeping with our values while dealing with the difficult realities of governing at the local level, and I applaud that,” Bhalla said.

SUICIDES, MAGGOTS AND DIRTY UNDERWEAR

In February, a report from nonprofit advocacy group Human Rights First charged that conditions at the Hudson County Correctional Facility had deteriorated to an “inhumane” level.

The report, which also blasted conditions at the Elizabeth Contract Detention Facility and the Essex County Correctional Facility, cited alleged human rights violations such as maggot-infested food, suicide risks, a lack of clean underwear and medical treatment done on a "cost-benefit analysis."

At the Hudson County jail, inmates with mental health issues face particularly hard challenges, the nonprofit alleged.

"The Hudson facility has a high number of individuals with serious mental health concerns, as demonstrated by the three suicides that have occurred at the facility since January 2016 and the 12 mental health hospitalizations that have occurred in the last six months," Human Rights First wrote.

Other allegations at the Hudson County prison included:

  • "Several detained individuals who work in the kitchens complained that the food carts, trays, and dishes are frequently left unwashed, and that when they are cleaned, dirty water is used to wash them."
  • "Several individuals who have been detained long-term… reported that they avoid seeking dental care as the dentist only performs extractions, rather than providing treatment for basic dental issues, including cavities."
  • "At the Hudson facility, we observed one woman using a bra as a sling for a clavicle fracture after being told that proper arm slings were a 'suicide risk."

The Hudson County jail isn't the only North Jersey prison to experience an outpouring of protest and anger from local residents who wish to have nothing to do with the "blood money" that prison contracts bring.

In July, eight members of grassroots activist group Resist the Deportation Machine were arrested in Newark after protesting Essex County's contract with ICE.

Essex County has taken in millions of dollars in revenue from housing federal detainees at its Newark prison over the past years. A proposed $725.9 million Essex County budget for 2018 was anticipated to generate $35.7 million by housing federal inmates, immigration detainees and inmates from Gloucester County."

"Essex County must not run on blood money," a local activist recently wrote. "The fact that the county profits from the unconstitutional detention of immigrants, because ICE pays for the beds, is not a valid argument for collaborating in the ICE deportation machine. The county could raise money by selling opioids as well, but that would not make it a wise policy."

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Photo: Protest at Hudson County Correctional Facility in June 2017 (Jawaid Stationwala)

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