NEW JERSEY — A group of eight U.S. Congress members from New Jersey are demanding more answers about alleged plans to create more prison space for federal immigration detainees – despite a state law that bans such deals.
According to news reports and an ICE inmate locator, several detainees have recently been routed through the Elizabeth Detention Center in Union County as they await deportation hearings.
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, both CoreCivic and GEO Group have challenged the law in court, and a judge ruled in 2023 that CoreCivic could keep its jail in Elizabeth open.
Federal authorities and private prison companies are now reportedly seeking to add more detention space in New Jersey, despite the state’s ban – including a 600-bed facility in the Newark area, which is managed by the GEO Group.
ICE may also be planning to open a detention facility at the Albert M. “Bo” Robinson Center in Trenton, lawmakers say.
Earlier this week, a group of eight Democratic Congress members from New Jersey wrote a letter to the U.S. Department of Homeland Security and U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, demanding more information about any potential expansion in Elizabeth, Newark or Trenton. Read the full letter here.
Signatories included Sens. Cory Booker and Andy Kim, and Reps. LaMonica McIver, Rob Menendez Jr., Bonnie Watson Coleman, Josh Gottheimer, Frank Pallone Jr. and Mikie Sherrill.
The lawmakers wrote:
“According to documents obtained through an American Civil Liberties Union (“ACLU”) Freedom of Information Act (“FOIA”) request, ICE’s Enforcement and Removal Operations field office in Newark, New Jersey is seeking space to detain at least an additional 600 people through new or expanded detention contracts. For example, the FOIA response revealed a possible expansion of the Elizabeth Detention Center (“EDC”) run by private prison company CoreCivic. A November 2024 SEC filing from GEO Group, one of the world’s largest for-profit prison companies, revealed efforts to secure a 15-year ICE contract for the operation of a 600-bed facility in the Newark area, raising questions over the status of Delaney Hall, which was formerly used to detain immigrants until 2017. The FOIA documents similarly indicate that ICE is considering opening a detention facility at the Albert M. “Bo” Robinson Center (“ARC”) in Trenton, New Jersey. All three of these facilities have faced allegations of poor conditions and abuse, and there is no place for the continued use of these facilities to detain immigrants in our communities.”
Here are some of the questions that the lawmakers had for Homeland Security:
1: Are there any pending Requests for Proposals, Intergovernmental Service Agreements (IGSAs), Intergovernmental Agreements (IGAs), U.S. Marshalls Service agreements, or contracts for new or modified detention space in New Jersey? If so, please provide the scope of the solicitations or requests, the number of beds, the expected timeline for awards, and any copies of the solicitations or requests that have been made public.
2: Has ICE entered into contract or agreement negotiations with any entity or representatives for an entity or a contract regarding the operation of Delaney Hall or any other facility in New Jersey? Please name the entity and date of negotiations or execution of the contract.
3: Is ICE seeking to detain additional individuals beyond the current 300-person capacity at EDC? If so, what specific actions is ICE taking to expand capacity, including the construction of any additional physical structures or enclosures to the facility?
4: Have DHS or ICE issued any waivers of detention standards to EDC? Have any measures been taken to temporarily expand capacity at EDC such as the use of temporary beds?
5: In addition to EDC, Delaney Hall, and ARC, did ICE receive any other responses to any Requests for Information, Requests for Proposals, or other solicitations for detention space in New Jersey released since January 1, 2021? If so, please provide the full list of responses.
6: Please provide copies of any current contracts or agreements for detention space in New Jersey. If any such contracts or agreements are pending, please provide the following information: a. The address of the facility or land where the detention will occur; b. The number of beds that will be available at the facility; c. The security designation of the facility; and d. The estimated date when detention space will be usable.
7: In addition to facilities that hold individuals for over 72 hours, is ICE currently seeking or planning to enter into contracts for the detention of individuals on a temporary basis, including soft-sided facilities, in New Jersey?
8: Is ICE currently seeking or planning to set up temporary operations centers, staging areas, and/or temporary holding locations in New Jersey for the receiving, holding, and/or processing of individuals for detention or deportation? If so, please provide the scope of such plans, including the number of beds, and the expected timeline. Please also provide the locations under consideration.
9: What was the estimated cost to the federal government for immigration detention in New Jersey for the past two Fiscal Years? What is the estimated cost for the upcoming Fiscal Year?
10: Has ICE received any directives or instructions since January 20, 2025 regarding arrest targets or quotas, and are ICE personnel operating under any expectations regarding arrest numbers?
TRUMP AND IMMIGRATION IN NEW JERSEY
The letter comes amidst a flurry of immigration enforcement activity by the Trump administration, empowering ICE officials to conduct raids across the United States, including a recent raid in Newark that resulted in the questioning of U.S. citizens and a military veteran.
“New Jersey is the proud home to more than two million immigrants across the state, and we are demanding answers about ICE actions in our community,” McIver said.
“We will not sit idly by as Trump’s policies harass and harm our neighbors, and we will not stop holding ICE and this administration to account,” the congresswoman added.
Earlier this month, McIver, Menendez and Watson Coleman made an unannounced visit to the Elizabeth Detention Center. They were denied access and delayed for nearly an hour.
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