ICE Facility In Newark Is ‘Not Welcome,’ Lawmakers Say

NEWARK, NJ — Several lawmakers with Newark ties are criticizing a plan to reopen a major ICE immigration detention center in the city – although the plan has its supporters, too.

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

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

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.

“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.

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

• See Related: ICE Detention Center In NJ Is First To Open Under Trump's New Term

Since the announcement, a wave of lawmakers and activists with Brick City ties have been speaking out with a common message: “You’re not welcome.”

“Without satisfying city property-use requirements, inspections and permits, Delaney Hall cannot lawfully open in Newark at this time,” Mayor Ras Baraka said.

“Regardless of the process, an immigrant detention center is not welcomed here,” the mayor continued. “ICE’s stated intention to round up ‘criminals’ is a thin veil that does not conceal their scheme to violate people’s rights, desecrate the Constitution and disassemble our democracy.”

New Jersey’s two U.S. senators also denounced the plan to reopen an ICE facility in Newark.

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.”

Sen. Andy Kim – who made multiple campaign trips to Newark last year – bashed the plan to reopen Delaney Hall.

“No company should be profiting off of the separation of families and our broken immigration system,” Kim said. “Reopening Delaney Hall won’t secure the border or fix our immigration system. We need to focus on solutions, not padding the pockets of corporations.”

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.”

McIver’s peer in the 12th district, U.S. Rep. Bonnie Watson Coleman, said that private prisons are “incompatible with a fair and moral justice system.”

“New Jerseyans will not stand for this egregious dehumanization of our neighbors, friends and communities,” she wrote.

Meanwhile, three state lawmakers who represent Newark in the 29th district criticized the plan in a joint statement.

According to Sen. Teresa Ruiz and Assemblywomen Eliana Pintor-Marin and Shanique Speight:

“The opening of Delaney Hall does not address the real need for immigration reform. Instead, it perpetuates harmful policies that create fear and disrupt the lives of many. The federal government should instead focus on real solutions that recognize the complexity of our immigration system and provide pathways for those who are contributing to our country to obtain legal status. We are already hearing how these policies and broad directives are destabilizing our businesses and communities, and the opening of this facility will only contribute to it.”

Some people were supportive of the news, however, bashing local officials for standing in ICE’s way.

“Ras Baraka doesn’t want [an] ICE detention center in his sanctuary city,” a pundit posted online. “Why is this mayor and someone running for governor so hell-bent on protecting illegals who aren’t supposed to be here?”

“Looks like Trump has accepted the challenge and is taking the fight right into the mayor’s backyard,” another commenter quipped.

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