ICE May Expand Footprint In NJ/NY, Immigration Advocates Say

NEWARK, NJ — A coalition of immigrant rights advocates in New Jersey issued a call to action on Friday, alleging that U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) is looking to expand its footprint in the Tri-State area.

Earlier this month, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security released a request for information (RFI) to identify possible detention sites to hold “criminal aliens and other immigration violators.”

According to the RFI, the site would be located in New York or New Jersey, preferably within a 60-mile ground commute from the New York field office. The site must be capable of providing detention, medical, and armed transportation services, including physical structures, equipment, personnel and vehicles.

“The ideal facility or facilities will provide 900 low, medium-low, medium-high and high-level security beds for adult detainees (850 male and 50 female),” the RFI states.

A spokesperson for the ICE-ERO Newark office provided Patch the following statement on Friday when reached for comment:

“ICE is continually reviewing its detention requirements and exploring options that will afford ICE the operational flexibility needed to house the full range of detainees in the agency’s custody. A request for information (RFI) is issued solely for information and planning purposes and does not constitute a request for proposal (RFP) or a commitment for an RFP in the future.”

While an RFI isn’t a contract set in stone, the ICE advisory has set off warning bells among the immigrant community in New Jersey, a coalition of advocacy groups say.

According to a Friday statement from the New Jersey Alliance for Immigrant Justice, if ICE ramps up its bed capacity in the Tri-State area, it could also mean more enforcement activities.

• See related article: ICE In NJ Deported 500 People From Country In 3 Months

Currently, ICE holds multi-million-dollar contracts with Essex, Hudson and Bergen counties, as well as a contract with CoreCivic, which runs the private detention facility in Elizabeth.

“These facilities are dangerous and have created a public health crisis made worse by [the coronavirus],” New Jersey Alliance for Immigrant Justice alleged. “In the past several months, many detainees have been transferred out of New Jersey or deported. Additional facilities will only further harm our communities with increased ICE enforcement.”

Amol Sinha, the executive director of the ACLU-New Jersey, said the nonprofit is calling on residents, businesses and elected officials to “stand together against ICE's attempt to expand immigration detention in our state.”

Other immigrant rights advocates blasted the idea of bringing more ICE contracts to New Jersey:

• Christian Estevez, Latino Action Network – “We're in a moment in our state and nation where there are increasing calls for divestment from incarceration and detention, systems which disproportionately impact Black and brown bodies. At a time when we should be investing in our communities over the carceral state, it is unconscionable to think that we could see additional detention facilities established in the Tri-State area.”
• Chia-Chia Wang, American Friends Service Committee-Newark – “It’s disheartening to learn ICE’s continuous plans to detain and deport immigrants and to separate families despite this challenging time facing our society. Detention and deportation are a pipeline to family separation and broken communities. It’s never a better time to realize these facts and for us to call for defunding Immigration and Customs Enforcement now.”
• Charlene Walker, Faith in New Jersey – “We condemn the wickedness of ICE for this attempt to expand detention to further profit off of Black and brown bodies through detention.”

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