Bergen County Jail To Allow ICE Detainees To Hug Their Loved Ones

Bergen County Sheriff Anthony Cureton said Monday that within two weeks the jail that he oversees will allow immigrant detainees to have physical contact with their visitors, like all other immigration facilities in the region. 

Cureton, who won a special election last year following the resignation of his predecessor over racist remarks revealed by WNYC, told the station's Julianne Welby in an interview on "All Things Considered" that he is making a number of changes to improve the conditions of detained immigrants. He said the jail updated its policies in accordance with Immigration and Customs Enforcement's most recent national detention standards, which brings it in line with jails in Essex and Hudson counties — two facilities which also detain immigrants through multi-million dollar contracts with ICE.

The lack of so-called "contact visits," which WNYC reported about in September, means that detainees must see their children, spouses and other visitors through a glass partition.

The jail currently holds about 450 male and female immigrants. They're mostly New York residents arrested by ICE for immigration violations, but an increasing number are asylum seekers from Central America. In all, about 400 immigrants who recently crossed the southern border are being held at ICE detention facilities in New York and New Jersey, according to the agency's statistics. 

Immigrant advocates have been pushing Bergen, Hudson and Essex counties — which are all run by Democrats — to stop detaining immigrants in exchange for the payments from ICE. Under pressure, Hudson County announced plans to end its ICE contract by 2020, and Essex County has committed to spending money on lawyers for the detainees.

But Cureton, a Democrat, defended Bergen County's ICE contract.

"I want to be clear: I'm appalled and disgusted by the Trump policies...separating parents from children at the border is cruel and is an insult to the values of our nation," he said. By contrast, he said, his staff is taking "progressive steps" to improve the lives of ICE detainees.

"Having the contract is not an approval or Trump or his policies, it's just a pragmatic approach," he said. "If we cancel the contract [immigrants could be moved to] be less humane housing...We do provide a great service."