Religious Leaders Sue to End Hudson County's ICE Contract
Arguing that Hudson County officials violated New Jersey's public meetings law in renewing a controversial contract to detain immigrants for Immigration and Customs Enforcement, a group of local religious leaders sued the county Monday to invalidate the deal.
The suit says the process "reeked of secrecy and deception," with a rushed vote intended to avoid public scrutiny amid growing anger over the contract.
At a July 10 meeting, the county's legislative body — the board of chosen freeholders — unanimously voted to hold an August vote on renewing its expired contract with ICE. But another public freeholder meeting was scheduled for two days later. Anti-detention activists said they didn't attend because they didn't expect a vote to be held. Yet at that meeting, county officials moved the vote and immediately approved the contract, surprising those freeholders who had questions about the deal.
The vote also blindsided activists, who have been hoping to kill the contract. Now, in the suit filed by the American Civil Liberties Union of New Jersey on behalf of seven Hudson County religious leaders, the activists allege the vote violated the state's Open Public Meetings Act.
"The vote should be invalidated and...now the people of Hudson County should have a chance to speak their minds, and the freeholders should hear it and they should have an open and public debate about the issue," said the Rev. Tom Murphy, one of the plaintiffs.
A spokesman for the county declined comment.
About 700 immigrant detainees are held at Hudson County Correctional Facility. Under the ICE contract, the county collects $120 each day, per inmate, which amounts to about $35 million a year. Most of the jail population is now made up of ICE detainees, due in part to a 2017 bail reform law in New Jersey that has led to a sharp reduction in incarcerated low-level offenders.
A pair of freeholders opposed the sudden change at July's meeting.
"Let me just make this clear and put on the record," said Freeholder Joel Torres. "It's nothing against the county, the county's stance or the administration's stance, or the work that's done at the facility, but I do think that we should take the time to look at the situation."
A transcript of the meeting shows that Torres later tried to halt the vote, but was overruled by the chairman of the freeholder board, Anthony Vainieri. In an interview with WNYCÂ earlier this month, Vainieri said he supports the contract because the money reduces the tax burden on county residents and prevents the layoffs of 100 corrections officers. He also said detainees, all of whom are picked up by ICE in New York City, are treated well at the jail, which is near many of their relatives and attorneys.
But the surprise vote came as public scrutiny, interest and opposition to the contract was increasing. In recent weeks, the city councils in Hoboken and Jersey City unanimously voted on resolutions opposing the deal.
A number of high-profile detainees have also brought attention to the jail. Pablo Villavicencio, the delivery driver arrested after delivering a pizza to a Brooklyn military base, called conditions at the jail "inhumane." And Antonio de Jesus Martinez was sent to Hudson County for eight weeks after being arrested while applying for permanent residency.
"Hudson County may not be able to determine the ultimate result of the immigration cases of its detainees," according to the lawsuit, "but it does enable ICE to continue its widespread and indiscriminate detentions."
The suit also alleges that the freeholders voted to renew the contract without seeing anything more than a one-page addendum to the original contract signed in 2003. The vote on renewal was 5-2, with two freeholders absent, and was set retroactively in January, when the previous contract expired.
"It felt like such a transparent way to avoid transparency," said Murphy, the plaintiff. "To have something on the agenda, to take it off the agenda, and then at the last minute put it back on the agenda so most of the people who were prepared to speak about it weren't at the meeting."
The number of immigrants held at the county jail has skyrocketed under President Trump, due to ICE's more aggressive enforcement policies, as has the amount of money that the county collects. In April, according to the most recent invoices provided to WNYC, the county brought in more than $2.2 million from ICE.
Bergen and Essex counties also house hundreds of immigrants for ICE. They are, like Hudson, run by Democrats who have spoken out against Trump's immigration policies.
Activists hope the suit leads to a new vote, which would then result in a rejection of the contract.
"There's something — I'll use religious language — 'sinful' about the fact that we are benefitting from the misery of other people," Murphy said. "And I think that the county should seriously considering weaning itself off of this money from ICE."
The next freeholder meeting is Sept. 13. A crowd of activists are mobilizing to attend, but the majority faction of pro-detention freeholders rejected an effort to move the meeting to a larger space.Â
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