Thread: N.J. Hudson County to end contract with ICE to house immigration detainees

Hudson County to end contract with ICE to house immigration detainees

North Jersey Record
Published 4:39 p.m. ET Sept. 6, 2018 | Updated 4:42 p.m. ET Sept. 6, 2018

Hudson County Freeholder William O'Dea speaks about ICE contract at meeting in Jersey City.Monsy Alvarado, North Jersey


(Photo: Viorel Florescu/Northjersey.com)


Hudson County will end its contract to hold federal immigration detainees at its jail in Kearny, joining a growing number of government agencies that are distancing themselves from the Trump administration's stepped-up enforcement of the nation's immigration laws.

In a statement on Thursday, the county executive, Tom DeGise, announced that the county would initiate a “Path to Exit” from its contract to hold in custody detainees for U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, or ICE. He said he planned to send a resolution to the county freeholders for a vote next week that would provide that the current agreement with ICE cannot extend beyond the end of 2020 without the freeholders' consent.

“The plan will also direct additional funds from the contract to be spent on services for ICE detainees during this transition period,’’ DeGise said in a statement. “Presently, free Legal Services are provided to all detainees for their civil detention cases.”

The announcement comes after members of the public objected to the freeholders' decision in July to renew the contract to continue to house immigration detainees for ICE.

Last week, a group of religious leaders filed a lawsuit against the county freeholders, all of whom are Democrats, asking the court to void the vote. The plaintiffs alleged the freeholders violated the state's Sunshine Law when they voted two days after some members said they would wait until August to consider extending the agreement. The lawsuit claims the freeholders flouted their obligations under the law and voted to renew the contract in a process that "reeked of secrecy and deception."

The Rev. Seth Kaper-Dale, of the Reformed Church of Highland Park, who was on his way to Liberty State Park to attend a protest to denounce the contract, said it did not make sense to wait two years to end the contract.

“An exit strategy that keeps us wrongly holding immigrants who should be released on their own recognizance and held only on alternatives to detention — an exit strategy that doesn’t finish until 2020 — is totally inappropriate and unacceptable,’’ he said. “The exit needs to be much faster.”

In his statement, DeGise said the county is also spending more than $5 million to build a new infirmary complex at the Hudson County Corrections and Rehabilitation Center in Kearny, where federal immigration detainees have been held for over 20 years.

“The amount and into what areas those dollars will go will be worked out in future meetings with the administration, members of the Freeholder Board and advocates for the detainees,’’ DeGise said. “A survey of detainees conducted by advocates may be authorized as part of the plan.”

Lawsuit filed: Freeholders' vote to continue housing ICE detainees in Kearny jail broke law

Related: Faith leaders, immigration advocates call for Hudson County to end ICE contract

Lowry: Hudson takes ICE money without a blink

DeGise said the decision came after weeks of meetings with staff members, freeholders, advocates and local and state federal officials who “could assist the county in making a successful transition.”

“Just a month ago, I did not see a path that would allow us to move forward on a path to exit,” said County Executive DeGise. “I’m pleased that after what I have heard from state and federal leaders, I believe we have a consensus on how Hudson County can exit the contract in a responsible manner. “

Freeholder Chairman Anthony Vainieri said he welcomed the plan.

“Over the last month the County Executive, my fellow Freeholders, state and federal leaders and local advocates for detainees have worked constructively to make this exit plan possible, and I am proud of the work that has been done to arrive at this point,” Vainieri said. “I will urge my colleagues to support this plan because it represents a humane, reasonable approach.”

Several Clergy rally in front of County building to ask the freeholders to reconsider its decision to renew the ICE contract that calls for the housing of immigration detainees at the county jail (Photo: Viorel Florescu/Northjersey.com)


Counties canceling ICE contracts

Earlier this year, Contra Costa County and Sacramento County in California canceled their contracts with ICE to hold immigration detainees, as did Alexandria, Virginia, and Springfield, Oregon.

"We think that is what should be happening all over the country, its a way to envision a world without detention,'' Liz Martinez, director of advocacy for Freedom for Immigrants, a nonprofit working to abolish U.S. immigration detention. "It's a shame that Democrats would support renewing these contracts when they are seeing on a national stage how the Trump administration wants to continue to expand detention.

So they should be advocating for a humane solution and not continue to aggravate the problem."

She said in some cases, immigrants detained at facilities that closed were released on bond or with a monitoring device, and sometimes the detainees have been sent to other states.

When Contra Costa County announced the end of its agreement in July, she said, it happened quickly, and advocates didn't have a chance to help people come out of detention. She said even though they were able to post bond for 22 people using donated money. She said, though, that some detainees were transferred to Colorado and the Washington State.

"This happened almost overnight, where a bunch of people were transferred because again, ICE doesn't want to cooperate,'' she said. "Had Contra Costa done this correctly, we could have facilitated the release of so many people."

She said some immigrants who were transferred to other facilities had to commence their immigration cases again.

"There has to be a way for community leaders and advocates to be able to have people released right away into the community,'' she said. "Once a person is out of detention, they are more likely to win their immigration cases than from inside."

Check back for more on this developing story.

https://www.northjersey.com/story/news/hudson/2018/09/06/hudson-county-end-contract-ice-house-immigration-detainees/1215264002/

Atlanta calls for ICE to move its detainees out of the city jail