Time For Hudson County To Sever Ties With ICE, Activists Say

Hudson County, NJ – Should Hudson County sever its “287(g)” ties with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE)?

The federal program colloquially known as “287(g)” allows county law enforcement officers to identify and arrest undocumented immigrants, NJ.com reported.

But a Newark-based immigration rights group is advocating for officials to let the county’s agreement with ICE expire on June 30, NJ.com stated.

Read the full article here.

Chia-Chia Wang, organizing and advocacy director for the immigrant rights program at the American Friends Service Committee, told the Jersey Journal that the program is “wrong in so many ways.”

Wang said that the federal agency will pay Hudson County $18 million this year to house hundreds of federal prisoners in the Hudson County jail in Kearny as part of an unrelated contract.

A 2002 intergovernmental service agreement between Hudson County and the U.S. Department of Justice states that the county will provide “detention space and services” for 384 federal prisoners/detainees, including 128 in U.S. Marshals Service custody and 256 in Immigration and Naturalization custody, for a period of 15 years.

In the 2002 agreement, ICE increased the rate the federal agency paid for each detainee from $77 to $90 per day. The hourly rate for guards was also increased from $23.76 to $35.

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