No ICE In Essex: Activists To Attend Freeholder Mtg In Livingston

LIVINGSTON, NJ — The push for better treatment of ICE detainees – and an ultimate end to the "business of incarcerating immigrants" – is coming to Livingston on Thursday, activists say.

A coalition of faith-based groups and immigrant rights organizations plan to attend the Essex County Board of Chosen Freeholders meeting at 7 p.m. on July 25 at Livingston Township Hall, 357 S. Livingston Avenue, according to a news release from Montclair-based Bnai Keshet.

Their goal? To demand better conditions at the Essex County Correctional Facility in Newark, which contracts with ICE to house federal immigration detainees.

• See related article: ICE’s Newark Office Deported 500 People From Country In 3 Months

Organizers with Bnai Keshet said:

“This facility, which earns Essex County millions of dollars annually through an Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) contract, failed an ICE inspection last year. The conditions described there were inhumane and unsafe. Most of the detainees are immigrants and refugees who have not been charged with crimes.”

Activists said they are making several demands of the freeholder board, including:

• “Create a civilian oversight board”
• “Appoint a detainee advocate”
• “Provide universal legal representation for ICE detainees”
• “Plan a responsible transition out of the business of incarcerating immigrants”

One of these demands – offering lawyers to ICE detainees – was partly addressed by county officials and the freeholder board earlier this year.

In June, Essex County Executive Joseph DiVincenzo Jr. announced his administration has officially drawn up three contracts – each potentially worth $250,000 – that will provide free legal services to immigrant detainees at the county-run prison.

Some of the tasks that the free lawyers will work on include securing bond, cancellation of removal, asylum, withholding and handling Convention Against Torture claims.

The Essex County Board of Chosen Freeholders approved the contracts at their June 26 meeting. Each will run from July 1, 2019, to June 30, 2020.

"I'm glad to see that the administration has supported this initiative to provide legal assistance to the undocumented detainees in the Essex County Correctional Facility," Freeholder President Brendan Gill said. "Although $750,000 is a small amount of money in relation to what the county is taking in from the ICE contract, the passing of these resolutions is significant, and hopefully the first step towards universal representation."

Gill said that moving forward, he will continue to call for "a responsible wind down" of the contract with ICE, as well as independent oversight of the Essex County Correctional Facility.

County officials currently contract with ICE to house up to 928 immigrant detainees in civil custody. At $117 per day per detainee, the county rakes in as much as $30 to $40 million every year from its agreement with ICE, some critics say.

• See related article: Essex County's Prison Profits Will Continue Under Proposed Budget

According to county officials, the Essex County Correctional Facility is accredited by the American Correctional Association. It has received 100 percent compliance with the New Jersey State Department of Corrections every year since 2006, and has been accredited by the National Commission on Correctional Health Care and the Commission on Accreditation of Rehabilitation Facilities since 2007.

However, local activists have been decrying conditions at the county jail for years, alleging that the profit from the ICE contract amounts to "blood money."

Read about some of the most recent allegations facing the embattled prison.

• See related article: Mentally Ill Inmate Hung Himself While In Straitjacket, Family Says
• See related article: Jail Served Us Meatballs That Smelled Like Feces, Inmate Says
• See related article: Essex County Jail Stuck ICE Detainees With Giant Underwear

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