ICE center sparks protest
Immigrant advocates rally at Newark detention facility
By: Ricardo Kaulessar
NorthJersey.com
USA Today Network - New Jersey
..... About 100 immigration advocates gathered in Newark on Tuesday [03/11/2025] to protest the federal government's announcement that it is pushing ahead with the reopening of Delaney Hall, a detention center on the outskirts of Newark, to hold immigrant detainees.
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Representatives from numerous groups including Make The Road New Jersey, Wind of the Spirit and New Jersey Alliance for Immigrate Justice gathered in the parking lot of the Essex County Correctional Facility, which is next to Delaney Hall, separated by a fence.
..... Newark Mayor Ras Barak held a press conference their Tuesday [03/11/2025] afternoon.
..... ICE and the feds should not have come to Newark to find criminals, Barka said from the microphone, but should instead look to Washington, D.C.
..... "When ICE came and raided the fish market in the city of Newark, they asked people for their papers under the guise of looking for criminals ... But I have to tell them they don't have to go too fa to look for criminals, he said. "they just need to go to the Oval Office because there's a criminal in the Oval Office.
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Protesters chanted and held signs saying "immigrate Power," and "Ban ICE," referring to U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
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ICE announced last month [02/2025] the "imminent reopening: of Delaney Hall, the first to open under the second Trump administration, to process detained immigrants after "reaching an agreement with the facility's owner to reestablish the federal immigration processing and detention center at the 1,000-bed facility."
..... The center is owned by the prison company GEO Group, which has been seeking legal means to reopen the facility since former President Joe Biden too office. Last year, [2024] the company sued Governor Phil Murphy and state Attorney General Matthew Platkin to stop enforcement of a state law passed in 2021 by the Legislature that prohibits local jails form entering into new contracts to house federal immigration detainees.
.... An exact date was not given for the reopening. This announcement was in line with the Trump administration's goal of the mass deportation of 11 million people, some of whom could end up being held at Delaney Hall.
..... After the press conference, Baraka said the Geo Group has to go to community meetings of the Newark Zoning Board to get change of use before any plans to open. He told NorthJersey.com that ICE sent a letter to the city that it plans to open in May, but no formal in-person meetings has been set.
..... The Trump administration is going after immigrates to pursue a "white supremacist agenda" and is doing the bidding of the owner of the center, Geo Group, said Viri Martinez of the New Jersey Alliance for Immigrant Justice at the protest. She also called for the passage of the Immigrate Trust Act, which is seen by supporters as important in ensuring that immigrates trust cola law enforcement.
..... Eliana Fernandez, the organizing director for Make The Road New Jersey, said Black and brown immigrants need to be protected.