ICE Plans To Lease Office Space In Affluent Essex County Suburb, Report Says

This article was updated on Feb. 19

ESSEX COUNTY, NJ — U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) is planning to lease office space in an affluent Essex County suburb, a report says.

ICE plans to lease offices throughout the U.S. as part of an expansion campaign, Wired.com recently reported. The publication shared dozens of locations where ICE is allegedly leasing space, including 5 Becker Farm Road in Roseland, New Jersey. Read the full article here.

The four-story, Class-B office building at 5 Becker Farm Road in Roseland was sold to Aresco Management of Hauppauge, New York for $16 million in 2021. Its owner is listed as Sixpad Realty LLC in Hauppauge.

The property is located within 280 Corporate Center in Roseland, which is “one of the most desirable business centers in the area,” according to CBRE, which brokered the deal with Aresco Management.

The property has tenants that include a law firm, a pediatric health care provider and a local nonprofit. Several offices are available for lease.

On Thursday, a spokesperson for Aresco Management told Patch that ICE will be using the office for legal services. There will not be any operational component, he said.

An ICE spokesperson told Patch that the agency does not confirm office locations when reached for comment about the report, citing a steep spike in death threats and assaults against its officers.

ICE said its agents have arrested several people in New Jersey who immigrated to the U.S. illegally and posed “public safety threats,” including suspects convicted of homicide and sexual assault. Related: ICE Arrests 4 Convicted Child Sex Offenders In New Jersey

“Is it really news that when a federal agency hires more personnel that they need more space?” a spokesperson asked Patch. “Thanks to the Big Beautiful Bill, we have an additional 12,000 ICE officers and agents on the ground across the country. That’s a 120 percent increase in our workforce.”

Some local politicians and advocates say that ICE isn’t wanted in Essex County, however.

The Wired.com report was reshared by Analilia Mejia, the Democratic nominee to replace Gov. Mikie Sherrill in New Jersey’s 11th congressional district.

“ICE is spending $38 billion to open detention centers and field offices all across the country — including right here in Essex County,” Mejia commented. “They want to move into a building in Roseland that's right next to a child care center.”

“Hell no,” she wrote.

“This is all funded by Trump's ‘One Big Beautiful Bill’ – the same bill that slashed your health care, cut school funding and gutted benefits for working families,” Mejia added. “Republicans took money out of our pockets to build detention camps next to daycares.”

• See Related: Here's What NJ Voters Think Of The 'Big, Beautiful Bill,' Poll Says

ICE FOOTPRINT IN ESSEX COUNTY

Essex County is already home to a major federal immigration detention center, Delaney Hall in Newark, which was the first to open under President Donald Trump’s second term. The facility’s owner, the GEO Group – one of the largest private prison companies in the nation – was awarded a 15-year contract that it valued at $1 billion to run the new detention center.

Immigration advocates have criticized the government’s deal with the GEO Group, accusing the company of profiteering from the Trump administration’s immigration crackdown.

• Read More: Detainee Population Surges At ICE Prison In NJ After It Reopens Under Trump
• Read More: 2 Prison Companies With NJ Ties May Score Big Profits From Deportations

Activists have also been criticizing other companies that are allegedly profiting from the immigration crackdown, including Palantir Technologies, a Colorado-based company that specializes in data mining. The company is co-founded by Peter Thiel, a campaign donor to President Donald Trump and other prominent Republican politicians. New Jersey’s state pension funds currently invest in Palantir stock.

• Related: New Tech Tracks Immigrants For ICE, Protesters Tell NJ To Dump Palantir Stock

In Newark, immigration advocates recently called on the local school board to cut ties with a company that allegedly “feeds the deportation machine” by supplying food to federal detainees at Delaney Hall. Several New Jersey advocacy groups have launched an online campaign against Driscoll Foods, one of the largest independent foodservice distributors in the Northeast.

• Related: Anti-ICE Activists Tell School Board To Cut Ties With NJ Food Company

Although the focus on federal immigration enforcement has ramped up since Trump took office, large-scale ICE raids also took place in New Jersey during Joe Biden’s term.

The agency’s Newark field office processes federal detainees from across the state. Prior to New Jersey’s ban on ICE contracts, hundreds of people were arrested and deported from the office every month.

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