ICE Detention Center In NJ Is First To Open Under Trump's New Term

ESSEX COUNTY, NJ — President Donald Trump’s ongoing immigration crackdown continues to leave a heavy footprint in New Jersey.

On Wednesday, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officials confirmed plans to “reopen” Delaney Hall in Newark. The 1,000-bed facility will be the first federal detention center to open under Trump’s second term, officials said.

No specific date was released, but officials said the reopening is “imminent.”

The move will allow ICE to expand its detention capacity in the Northeast region of the country. It will also aid with deportations, officials said.

“The location near an international airport streamlines logistics, and helps facilitate the timely processing of individuals in our custody as we pursue President Trump’s mandate to arrest, detain and remove illegal aliens from our communities,” acting ICE director Caleb Vitello said.

ICE officials said the agency has reached an agreement with the facility’s owner, the GEO Group, one of the largest private prison companies in the nation.

Under a 2021 state law, all prisons in New Jersey – public or private – are banned from making new contracts with ICE to hold federal detainees. Prisons also can’t expand or renew old agreements.

But since then, the GEO Group and another private company, CoreCivic – which runs the Elizabeth Detention Center in Union County – have challenged the law in court. A judge ruled in 2023 that CoreCivic could keep its jail in Elizabeth open. Federal authorities and prison companies are now seeking to add more detention space in New Jersey, despite the state’s ban.

ICE may also be planning to open a detention facility at the Albert M. “Bo” Robinson Center in Trenton, a group of eight Congress members from New Jersey recently said. Read More: Prisons Plan To Profit From ICE Detainees In NJ Despite Ban, Lawmakers Say

According to the GEO Group, the 15-year, fixed-price contract for Delaney Hall in Newark will provide support services for the establishment of a federal immigration processing center – with exclusive use of the facility given to ICE.

The company will be providing support services including security, maintenance, and food services, as well as access to recreational amenities, medical care and legal counsel.

The facility formerly held immigration detainees until it closed in 2017 and was turned into a halfway house.

The new support services contract is expected to generate in excess of $60 million in annualized revenues for GEO in the first full year of operations, with “margins consistent with GEO’s company-owned Secure Services facilities.”

The company estimated the 15-year value of the contract with normal cost of living adjustments to be approximately $1 billion.

“GEO expects to reactivate the facility in the second quarter of 2025 with revenues and earnings from the new contract normalizing during the second half of 2025,” the company announced Thursday.

“Our company-owned Delaney Hall Facility will play an important role in providing needed detention bedspace and support services for ICE in the Northeast,” GEO Group executive chair George Zoley said.

“We are continuing to prepare for what we believe is an unprecedented opportunity to help the federal government meet its expanded immigration enforcement priorities,” Zoley added.

The GEO Group was a major donor to a super PAC supporting Trump prior to November’s election, and has a history of supporting other Republican candidates. The company’s stock price shot up nearly 32% after news of Trump’s presidential victory was announced.

The New Jersey Alliance for Immigrant Justice – a coalition of dozens of advocacy groups – was among those that criticized this week’s announcement.

The coalition said the GEO Group also holds the contract for ICE Air, which operates out of Newark Liberty International Airport to transfer people in detention domestically or to deport them internationally.

Advocates said the announcement is a “significant setback” for New Jersey:

“While the state’s federal representatives have regularly spoken out against ICE detention expansion, the state legislature has failed to advance legislation, like bill S3672/A4987, that protects immigrants from ICE data requests and overreach. ICE’s own statement makes its intent clear: the facility will not only target New Jersey’s own diverse communities, its proximity to the international airport will make it a regional hub for enforcement across the Northeast.”

“The planned opening of Delaney Hall as a private immigration detention facility presents a serious threat to New Jersey’s immigrant communities and is one of the largest immigration detention contracts our state has ever seen, ACLU-NJ Executive Director Amol Sinha said.

Sinha said the nonprofit continues to push lawmakers to immediately pass the Immigrant Trust Act, which would limit state and local law enforcement from cooperating with federal immigration authorities when doing so is voluntary under federal law.

"This is a critical moment that demands action from state and local leaders," Sinha added.

ICE, TRUMP AND ESSEX COUNTY

The latest announcement from ICE comes amidst a flurry of immigration enforcement activity spearheaded by the Trump Administration.

As part of his campaign platform, the president vowed to immediately launch a nationwide immigration crackdown, including in sanctuary cities that refuse to cooperate with federal agencies. Several municipalities in New Jersey have declared “sanctuary” status, including the state’s largest city, Newark.

Trump’s administration didn’t waste any time making its first moves. On his first day in office, the White House announced a sweeping wave of presidential actions and executive orders, including several involving immigration.

“Over the last four years, the United States has endured a large-scale invasion at an unprecedented level,” the Trump administration said. “Millions of illegal aliens from nations and regions all around the world successfully entered the United States where they are now residing.”

“This cannot stand,” the president continued.

In January, ICE agents made national headlines when they raided a local seafood distributor in Newark, igniting a firestorm of controversy that has many community members speaking out in fear and anger – and others applauding for Trump.

Newark Mayor Ras Baraka said that three undocumented residents were detained, along with multiple U.S. citizens – including a military veteran. The raid – which was done in a section of the city with a dense population of immigrants – took place without a warrant, he said.

The family member of an undocumented immigrant arrested in last week’s ICE raid in Newark later claimed that he doesn’t have a criminal record – despite how the Trump Administration has been trying to frame the crackdown. Read More: Man Arrested In Newark ICE Raid Isn’t A Criminal, Cousin Says

“My primo is the sweetest, kindest, most hardworking person you’ll ever meet,” she said, adding that he “pays all his bills on time, has never gotten into any trouble and is the type of person to do just about everything right.”

Since then, anxiety over other potential ICE raids has been manifesting across Essex County, including a “sighting” in Millburn that turned out to be a case of mistaken identity. Read More: Rumor Of ICE Agents In Millburn Park Not True, Mayor Says

Several Congress members from the area recently made a surprise visit to the Elizabeth Detention Center, where at least one detainee arrested during the raid in Newark was lodged. They were denied access and delayed for nearly an hour. Read More: NJ Prison Gets Surprise Visit From 3 Congress Members Amid ICE Raids

Another high-profile ICE arrest took place in Newark earlier this month, when agents apprehended a registered sex offender who entered the United States in October 2015 as a lawful permanent resident. Read More: ICE Arrests Sex Offender In Newark, Controversy Continues To Rage

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

• See Related: NJ Activists Say Biden’s Playbook On Immigration Is Similar To Trump’s
• See Related: New Jersey Immigrant Advocates Bash Biden’s Budget Proposal

A major immigration sweep took place in North Jersey the week before Trump’s inauguration, with ICE’s Newark field office arresting 33 non-citizens who have committed or been accused of crimes. The federal agency said it targeted “noncitizens” who had felonies or misdemeanors for domestic violence, sexual abuse or exploitation, burglary, unlawful possession or use of a firearm, drug distribution or trafficking, and driving under the influence. Read More: Newark ICE Office Makes 33 Arrests, Deportations Loom

The Newark field office is located at 970 Broad Street, and processes federal detainees from across the state. Prior to New Jersey’s ban on ICE contracts took effect, hundreds of people were being arrested and deported from the Newark office every month. Read More: ICE In NJ Deported 500 People From Country In 3 Months, Feds Say

In July 2024, ICE carried out an early morning raid in Princeton. U.S. Rep. Bonnie Watson Coleman (NJ-12) said she was “horrified” to learn about the raids, in which ICE agents did not identify themselves, drove into the community and stopped Hispanic/Latinx residents. The agents randomly interrogated them and demanded documentation.

“This kind of conduct has absolutely no place in our community or our country,” the congresswoman said.

On the flip side of the coin, Trump’s pledge to carry out one of the largest deportation crackdowns in modern history has seen support from elected officials such as U.S. Rep. Jeff Van Drew (NJ-2), who chaired the president’s New Jersey campaign last year.

Van Drew recently announced that a bill he authored – the Detain and Deport Illegal Aliens Who Assault Cops Act – was included in the final passage of the Laken Riley Act, a new federal law that requires undocumented immigrants who are arrested for theft or violent crimes to be held in jail while their trials take place.

“The message is clear: if you are an illegal immigrant who assaults the officers who keep us safe, you will be immediately detained and you will be deported,” the congressman wrote, adding that under Trump’s leadership, “we are finally cleaning up the mess created by the Biden administration’s reckless open-border policies.”

Others have bashed the Trump administration’s plans, saying that New Jersey is a place where immigrants are welcomed – not feared.

Gov. Phil Murphy has gone on record that his administration will “fight like hell” and “fight to the death” against mass deportations under Trump’s second term.

Many Garden State activists insist more needs to be done, however.

After Trump’s first day in office, the New Jersey Alliance for Immigrant Justice – which has been helping to spearhead the resistance effort in the Garden State – launched a “Know Your Rights” campaign in nearly two dozen cities and towns. Outreach has been taking place in municipalities including Newark, Jersey City, Passaic, Hackensack, Perth Amboy, Kearny, Paterson, Trenton, New Brunswick, Elizabeth, Plainfield, Garfield, Union City, Bayonne, Linden, Clifton, East Orange, Sayreville, West New York and Fort Lee.

The ACLU of New Jersey recently posted a guide offering advice for “What to do if you’re approached by immigration officials in New Jersey,” which can be seen online here.

Meanwhile, New Jersey education officials released new guidance for schools about ICE raids after the Trump administration announced that it would allow federal immigration agencies to make arrests at schools, churches and hospitals – ending a policy that had been in effect since 2011. Read More: If ICE Comes To School: NJ Issues Guidelines For Educators, Staff

Pro-immigration activists have continued to raise red flags about the crackdown, bashing this week’s announcement from ICE about its plans to restart operations in Newark.

“The reopening of Delaney Hall as a privately run detention center will incentivize even more terror in our communities in order to turn a profit,” said Eliana Fernández, director of organizing for Make the Road New Jersey.

“We must fight back against the narrative that detention and deportation is a moral crusade and a public good, but that in fact these are simply efforts to funnel public resources into the private prison industry,” Fernández urged.

Wednesday's announcement saw blowback from two Congress members with Newark ties.

U.S. Sen. Cory Booker, a Newark resident, accused the GEO Group of having a “documented history of gross neglect, including malnourishment, inhumane living conditions, forced labor, and the physical and sexual abuse of people detained at its facilities.”

“This 15-year, $1 billion contract, announced the very same day that GEO Group released its fourth-quarter earnings, is not about making New Jerseyans safer or fixing our broken immigration system,” Booker said. “Instead, it demonstrates this administration’s driving motive to enrich its favored corporations while wasting taxpayer dollars.”

U.S. Rep. LaMonica McIver, who represents Newark and other 10th District municipalities in the House of Representatives, also decried the announcement from ICE.

“The Delaney Hall contract is in direct opposition to the will of the people here in Newark,” she said. “I denounced the potential opening of this facility earlier this month alongside my colleagues from New Jersey because privately owned detention centers degrade public trust in our institutions—the lack of transparency often leads to poor conditions and longer sentences.”

Catch up on some of our recent coverage involving ICE and immigration in New Jersey below (click headlines to read the article):

ICE Raids In NJ: What's Changed, What To Know

Officials' show of force has caused worry in parts of the state, while others are praising the deportation crackdown.

Murphy Said He Was Not Interviewed By ICE Over Immigrant Remarks

"I spoke to the director of Homeland Security a couple days ago and we exchanged messages on an unrelated topic," Gov. Murphy said Thursday.

Support Surges For NJ Restaurant Owners Detained By ICE

The husband and wife own and operate Jersey Kebab. Their green card applications are still pending after 9 years, according to their family.

Newark Councilman: Deport Criminals, Open 'Pathway To Citizenship'

There's more than one way to look at the immigration crisis, a Newark councilman said in the wake of a controversial ICE raid.

NJ Senator Cautions Against ‘False Hope’ Amid ICE Crackdowns

"It would be misleading to suggest a state law, a letter, or call from me, or most other elected officials, will put a stop to ICE raids."

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