Filing argues for Newark center
New angle by owner as city fights immigration detention
By: Ricardo Kaulessar
NorthJersey.com
USA Today Network - New Jersey
..... The owner of Delaney Hall, the Newark prison facility where the Trump administration wants to open an immigrate detention center, is striking back with a legal tactic meant to kill a city lawsuit.
.....
The Florida-based GEO Group, the second-largest private prison operator in the U.S., said in a court filing last week [04/09/2025] that Newark's suit against the company must also include the facility's intended user, U.S. Immigration and customs Enforcement.
..... But including ICE would mean the litigation must then be dismissed, because the federal agency is immune under federal legal precedents, the GEO Group added in its April 9 [2025]
filing to the U.S. district Court in Newark.
..... "It is black-letter law that sovereign immunity bars Newark from pressing its claims against a federal agency like ICE," the GEO Group says in the lawsuit.
..... In February, [2025] ICE announced that it had reached a 15-year agreement with the CEO Group to make the 1,196-bed Delaney Hall the first detention center to open during Trump's second term, during which the president has vowed to deport 11 million undocumented immigrants. ICE said the center would help fulfill Trump's "mandate to arrest, detain, and remove illegal aliens from our communities."
..... The city filed a lawsuit in stat4ee Superior Court in Essex County this month [04/2025] ordering the GEO Group to 'cease occupancy [and] construction, and permit entry for inspection: of Delaney Hall, which is on Doremus Avenue in an area on the outskirts of Newark. It has been vacant since 2023, when it served as a drug treatment center and halfway house.
..... Newark's lawsuit said the prison company did not file required construction permits with the city. It also failed to seek a certificate of continued occupancy, the complaint said.
.....
According to the suit, city officials at a March 31 [2025] visit observe electrical and plumbing work being done to a newly built annex in Delaney hall's parking lot. The work required a permit, the lawsuit alleged. It also said officials were stopped by company security when they attempted to enter the facility.
..... The CEO Group responded with a filing to move the case from state Superior Court to the federal district court, both within Newark. The city's complaint was "based solely on GEO's performance of its federal contract with ICE," the company said.
..... In a subsequent response on April 9, [2025] the GEO Group said ICE needs to be included in Newark's complaint because the contract between the agency and the company "grants ICE exclusive sue of the Delaney Hall Facility: and "ICE must approve all requests for access to all secure portions of the Delaney Hall Facility."
..... Eric Penningotn, Newark's business administrator, said in a statement: "The City will work with the GEO group or its designer to ensure that the facility complies with all city and State laws, rules, and regulations. The City wants to ensure that the facility is safe for occupation by employees and proposed residents."