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3 May, 10 tweets, 5 min read
Breaking: Yet another ICE detention facility may close in NJ. Today the owners of the former warehouse where @CoreCivic operates ICE's Elizabeth Detention Center sued CoreCivic to get out of the lease, alleging CoreCivic endangered detainees' lives by violating Covid rules. 1/
51 detainees there have tested positive for Covid, plus several employees. There were 12 in just the last couple of weeks, despite the number of cases in NJ plummeting. Detainees have long complained about a lack of social distancing, soap, laundry services, cleaning supplies. 2/
Suit filed by Portview Properties, affiliated with the Elberon Development Group, which is owned by a politically connected philanthropic family that was target of anti-ICE protesters' & politicians' ire over the last few years. Portview first tried to end the lease last year. 3/
CoreCivic had refused to end the lease & is expected to fight this suit...If the facility is forced to close, where will NY/NJ detainees go? Essex County Democratic officials announced last week it is ending its own ICE detention at the county jail (gothamist.com/news/new-jerse…) 4/
Meanwhile, Hudson County Dems--which renewed a 10-year detention contract with ICE just last year--says it may kick ICE out from its county jail by December. That leaves Bergen County, which is no longer accepting new detainees. Advocates say solution is simple: FREE THEM ALL. 5/
Many of the 145 people held at the Elizabeth Detention Center are asylum seekers who flew into the NY/NJ airports seeking safety from violence abroad. I wrote about @EdafeOkporo's experience in 2018. 6/ wnyc.org/story/asylum-l…
@EdafeOkporo Elizabeth has long been targeted by immigration activists & former detainees who describe inhumane conditions inside. Last year, lawyers filed a class-action lawsuit to release everyone as Covid spread, sickening and killing detainees & workers (gothamist.com/news/lawyers-i…) 7/
Former and current detainees describe a facility that is not meant for people to live in for months, let alone years. Birds that fly around the interior allegedly defecate on detainees’ beds, and people with medical issues say they're abused by staff. 8/
Last year attorneys filed a class-action lawsuit demanding that all detainees be released. One plaintiff claimed that detainees had to buy their own soap, and alleged that their prison uniforms were cleaned once every two weeks. Another plaintiff was just immediately deported. 9/
Here's my write-up on this @Gothamist/@WNYC...

ICE Jailer in New Jersey Is Sued By Its Landlord, Claiming Unsafe Conditions
gothamist.com/news/ice-jaile…

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Matt Katz Profile picture
4 May
Violent clash between ICE detainees & Bergen County (NJ) Corrections officers Monday. Detainee told me officers suddenly demanded they lock in during search for contraband, but detainees objected to being yelled at & several were assaulted, pepper-sprayed & put in the hole. 1/4
Spokeswoman @BergenCountySo confirmed "melee" after "detainees were observed passing contraband between units," which was found. Detainees refused lock-down. OC spray administered. 5 detainees put in "disciplinary lock" & charged with rioting. 2 officers injured. Statement: 2/4
There have been multiple hunger strikes and protests outside the Bergen County Jail over the last many months. Activists want Democratic county commissioners, Dem @BergenExec, & Dem Sheriff Cureton, who is up for reelection, to end ICE contract. Meanwhile, elsewhere in NJ... 3/4
Read 5 tweets
Matt Katz Profile picture
28 Apr
Scoop: Essex County, NJ, is cancelling its long-standing and controversial contract to detain immigrants for ICE. It will move detainees out of its jail in Newark by August, ending what had become a political vulnerability for the all-Dem county board of commissioners. Story tk.
.@SenatorMenendez had called these contracts -- which are still active in Bergen and Hudson counties -- "blood money." But Essex is not pulling out due to moral concerns. It says it is making up for the tens of millions in ICE revenue by housing prisoners from nearby Union County
Allegations of physical/sexual assault by officers, inedible food & poor medical care turned the jail into a a target for immigration activists. County Executive Joe DiVincenzo was a particular focus of protesters. He staunchly defended conditions, and continued to do so today:
Read 7 tweets
Matt Katz Profile picture
3 Mar
Biden's ICE supposedly changed its priorities for deportation, with only recent arrivals, national security threats, and those convicted of aggravated felonies prioritized for removal. (ice.gov/doclib/news/re…)

So why is Mario Mateo of NJ being deported? A thread: 1/
Mateo has lived in the U.S. for 13 years. He has a U.S. citizen wife & 2 citizen children. He has never been convicted of a crime. He has had charges filed against him 3 times involving domestic disputes, but all were dismissed in municipal court, according to legal filings. 2/
Mateo was locked up by ICE in 2019 after leaving a court appearance. He was held at the Essex County jail in Newark, and is now in Louisiana, from where he's expected to be flown to his home country of Guatemala. He hasn't seen his family in more than a year. 3/
Read 7 tweets
Matt Katz Profile picture
4 Jan
Fake bomb from anti-ICE activists?

Dem County Executive @TomDeGise in Hudson County, NJ, who pushed ICE detention contract renewal last year, says he was sent a fake bomb in the mail. Commissioner Vainieri says it came from anti-ICE activists.
@TomDeGise Vainieri also makes false claim about ICE detainees who county holds: "Every one of them came to our country illegally and then committed a violent crime here in America." But he attached list of detainee "charges" that includes immigration violations & other non-violent offenses
Also, many detainees are Green Card holders who did not come "to our country illegally."

Also, those with charges but not convictions are in fact, technically, "innocent."
Read 5 tweets
Matt Katz Profile picture
6 Dec 20
Dems in NJ feuding over whether 3 Dem counties should continue to jail immigrants for ICE thru big $ contracts. THREAD: Last month Dem Hudson County exec @TomDeGise & freeholders gave ICE a 10-year extension. Now @SenatorMenendez--a Hudson County Dem--calls that "blood money" 1/
.@CoryBooker had told me last year, thru a spox, that Dems should end contracts (gothamist.com/news/booker-nj…). But now he's getting more detailed, saying detention "perpetuate[s] dangerous & dehumanizing immigration enforcement," and NJ counties shouldn't "enter" contracts. 2/
Booker doesn't call for Hudson, Essex & Bergen counties' detention contracts to be cancelled, which they could be. Still, county-level Democrats are incensed at the public rebuke from Booker and Menendez. Hudson Freeholder Vainieri says it's "infuriating," via @HeinisHardNews: 3/ Image
Read 22 tweets
Matt Katz Profile picture
24 Nov 20
Dems in Hudson County, NJ, are meeting NOW & appear ready to renew an ICE contract to detain immigrants for as long as 10 yrs. 75-plus people plan to speak, likely almost all against the contract. In 2018, same freeholders voted to end contract by 2020.1/ zoom.us/j/91553925879
Dem Executive @TomDeGise's spokesman said the county needs the money from the contract to balance its budget. But he could not provide any financial analysis. They're paid $120/day/immigrant by ICE, but it's unclear what the profit is. But even though money is stated reason...2/
...@TomDeGise's office sent a memo today to some freeholders with list of alleged crimes that immigrants at the jail committed. This is misleading, in that they are not held on crimes at the jail -- they already served time for any crimes. They're there fighting deportation. 3/
Read 30 tweets

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