This week on May 1 the Third Circuit Court of Appeals in Philadelphia will hear oral arguments which could determine the fate of New Jersey’s immigrant detention ban. New Jersey enacted the ban in 2021, but the law was challenged and overturned by the for-profit prison company CoreCivic in 2023. In the years since then, immigrant rights activists in the Garden State have been fighting to get the decision reversed.
The upcoming hearing will focus on New Jersey state law A5207, which prohibits immigrant detention contracts between private entities and “State and local entities” throughout New Jersey. While the law does not legally ban ICE detention, many activists refer to it as an ICE detention ban since, as of this writing, ICE’s only operating detention center in the state relies on a contract with a private prison company and they cannot renew that contract if the state law is upheld.
Immigrant rights advocates are planning to mobilize outside the Philadelphia courthouse for the hearing. Molly Linhorst, a staff attorney at American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) of New Jersey says she’ll be attending. The ACLU NJ has filed an amicus brief on behalf of 28 community organizations arguing that immigrant detention centers pose “significant health and safety risks” for those detained and the surrounding communities.
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“The impact of the hearing itself is an opportunity for both sides, and for the Trump administration to make their points and for the judges to ask questions,” Linhorst told Documented. “It’s an opportunity also for organizing and ensuring that people are expressing what they want the outcome to be.”
She added that the judge is unlikely to issue a ruling until at least several months after the hearing.
NJ A5207 was signed into law on August 20, 2021, but it still took months for all of New Jersey’s detention centers and county jails to cancel their contracts with ICE. At the time, New Jersey’s last open private facility, Elizabeth Detention Center (EDC), would not have been able to renew its contract in 2023, but CoreCivic, the private prison company that runs the center, sued the state.
U.S. District Judge Robert Kirsch then issued a preliminary injunction against the ban, backing arguments made by ICE that the NJ law impacts ICE’s ability to conduct operations as well as determine contracting for immigrant detention at the national level.
New Jersey’s immigrant population is second only to California, with roughly 1 in 4 residents having been born outside of the United States. In their organizing, activists from NJ’s immigrant community have often highlighted the abusive conditions and treatment suffered by those held in EDC.
A Statement of Intent from the Department of Justice argues that A5207 violates the federal government’s authority to “regulate immigration” and “make contracting decisions for the Federal Government.” CoreCivic’s complaint filed against the law in February 2023 claims that the legislation is unconstitutional, similarly arguing that it interferes with the federal government’s authority to carry out immigration enforcement.
CoreCivic and ICE extended their contract, signing a $20 million deal with EDC in 2023, shortly after A5207 was overruled by a federal judge. But the state of New Jersey filed an appeal in January 2024. Now, 16 months later, the state and CoreCivic will make their cases about whether the law should stand.
In the wake of this tumultuous back and forth, the Trump administration continues to push to expand ICE detention. In turn, activists in New Jersey are organizing to fight back against the opening of two other possible ICE detention centers in the state. The first, Delaney Hall, is an immigrant detention center in Newark, New Jersey which closed in 2017. Private prison company GEO Group announced a 15-year contract worth $1 billion in February to run the facility. The potential reopening has been met with strong opposition from activists and the city of Newark has filed a lawsuit as well, arguing that GEO Group is trying to reopen the facility without proper city permits.
In a press release, GEO Group Executive Chairman George C. Zoley said the facility “will play an important role in providing needed detention bedspace and support services for ICE in the Northeast,” and that the company is, “continuing to prepare for what we believe is an unprecedented opportunity to help the federal government meet its expanded immigration enforcement priorities.”
In addition, the Union County Board of Commissioners has begun the process of selling the formerly vacant Union County Jail in Elizabeth, NJ, to a private prison company, causing many to believe that it will ultimately be used as another ICE detention center. At two separate meetings of the Board of Commissioners on March 27 and April 17, dozens of activists and community members spoke out about the cruel conditions in ICE detention centers and the impact a new center would have on the community.
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One of the organizations that has been mobilizing community members to fight against new ICE detention centers is Make the Road New Jersey. The group’s director, Nedia Morsy, spoke about the importance of pushing back against ICE expansion.
“States and cities and communities are making choices to be complicit or not complicit in allowing the machine to grow as big as it is,” Morsy told Documented. She added that the reopening of Union County Jail would, “triple ICE’s capacity to kidnap members of our community,” noting that the jail is located in midtown Elizabeth near two high schools, the Department of Motor Vehicles and the city’s main library.
“So much has been invested into a system of detention like this,” Linhorst said. “Our concern is that if Elizabeth Detention Center and, you know, likely Delaney Hall in New Jersey, and some other facilities are able to open and expand the bed space locally, this is going to have long-term impacts on New Jerseyans and anyone who might be transported into New Jersey.”
“We feel very deeply that lives are in jeopardy when ICE is involved and detention is involved, so our members and our community are committed,” Morsy said. “We will put our bodies on the line to make sure that this jail never sees the light of day.”
