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People, Not Profits! Stop the Expansion of Immigration Detention in New Jersey
  1. Signatures
    3,401 out of 5,000
    Petitioning
    1. Freeholder, District 4 (+ 10 others)
      Petitioning
      close
      • Freeholder, District 4 (Leonard M. Luciano)
      • Freeholder at Large (Patricia Sebold)
      • Freeholder District 1 (Rolando Bobadilla)
      • Essex County Executive (Joe DiVincenzo)
      • Freeholder at Large (Donald Payne, Jr.)
      • Freeholder District 2 (D. Bilal Beasley)
      • Freeholder, District 3 (Carol Y. Clark)
      • President, Board of Chosen Freeholders (Blonnie Watson)
      • Freeholder at Large (Rufus I. Johnson)
      • Clerk of the Board of Chosen Freeholders (Deborah Davis Ford)
      • Freeholder District 5 (Brendan Gil)
  2. Created By
    Kathy O'Leary
    Summit, NJ
About this Petition Petition Letter Petition Updates
Why This Is Important

Immigrants are not commodities.  Tell Essex County to storp treating the people in their custody like items on a balance sheet.  Tell them to stop profiting from immigration detention

For years, ICE has been negotiation with Essex County and the private for-profit company Community Education Centers (CEC) on a contract to detain 1250 immigrants in the Essex County Jail and the neighboring privately run Delaney Hall.  The agreement between ICE & Essex County was signed and approved earlier this fall.

This past December the Essex County Freeholders voted to award the subcontract to Community Education Centers (CEC). It is not a coincidence that CEC has donated hundreds of thousands of dollars to the campaigns of Essex County politicians or that one of its primary lobbyists was Chris Christie or that Christie’s close friend and ally, Bill Palatucci is currently a Sr. VP for CEC.

Essex County officials are celebrating the new contract because it will raise revenues and they claim this will help lower property taxes.  However, Newark just announced a 4.6% property tax increase for the coming year despite the fact that Essex County presented a balanced budget for 2011 that included projected revenues of $27.5 million from the ICE contract.

It is unavoidable that this contract will be used to incarcerate long time Essex county residents with significant ties to the community and split apart local Essex county families.  Just over 23% of Essex County’s population is foreign born, according to the most recent data from the US Census Bureau.  Of this population, 71% have been in this country since before 2000 and 54% are not yet US Citizens. 

We the undersigned oppose the new ICE Contract in Essex County.  The Essex County Freeholders are treating immigrants as commodities, by trading their liberty for increased revenue for the county and wash their hands of any responsibility for oversight of the Essex County Jail.  However, credible complaints about inhumane conditions in the jail persist as well as inadequate access to clergy, family and lawyers.   

We the undersigned demand that the Essex County Freeholders revoke the contract with ICE and implement a community oversight board to work toward immediately improving conditions at the jail for immigrant detainees so as to include:

·        Visiting hours that include evenings and weekends

·        Contact visits for family members

·        No restrictions on visits, phone calls, and other contact with lawyers and clergy

·        Adequate mental and physical health care

·        Healthy food that complies with dietary restrictions and religious observances

·        Unrestricted access to communal religious services

·        Regular outdoor recreation free from exposure to hazardous environmental conditions

Why People Are Signing
Recent Signatures

Essex County In the News

Greetings,

I just signed the petition to demand that Members of the ESSEX COUNTY, NJ Board of Chosen Freeholders revoke the contract with ICE and improve conditions in the jail because I believe immigrants are people not commodities.

Since Essex County signed the IGSA with ICE, Essex County has been in the news for the suffering that it is causing to local residents and their families.

There was Neida Lavayen whose fiance was taken into custody one week before their wedding and held at Delaney Hall until he was deported to Ecuador. http://www.nj.com/news/index.ssf/2011/10/wedding_plans_thwarted_by_depo.html

There were Michell and Yasser Valle who migrated to the US legally with their mother when they were in kindergarten and first grade http://www.northjersey.com/news/Family_of_immigration_detainees_praying_for_Thanksgiving_miracle.html

Then there was Atanas Entchev who was invited to the US over 20 years ago as a visiting scholar and brought his 2 year old son, Enislave with him and spent 65 days in Delaney Hall with his son late last year. http://southbrunswick.patch.com/articles/north-brunswick-family-reunited-after-husband-and-son-detained-by-homeland-security-for-65-days-8b384902

Just before Christmas we learned of Jose Pereira, the father of 2 US citizen children and the spouse of a US citizen who was incarcerated in the Essex County Jail awaiting deportation. http://www.nj.com/hudson/index.ssf/2011/12/union_city_father_could_be_dep.html

The latest story is about Charley Chehoud who is currently being held in solitary confinement in Essex County Jail despite entering the US legally 30 years ago and recently cooperating with police to solve several crimes including a murder http://www.nj.com/news/index.ssf/2012/01/jersey_city_police_officer_in.html

Each one of the detainees at the Essex County Jail and Delaney Hall has their own story these are just the ones which have made it into the newspaper.

It has been revealed that Essex County is netting less than $20 per detainee per day. For any amount of money it would still be immoral to incarcerate people for profit, but how can you continue to justify participating in the oppression of people so that the coffers of Essex County can be filled?

I am signing this petition because I want you to stop profiting from the misery of immigrants and their families. I want you to revoke the ICE Contract and implement a community oversight board & immediately improve conditions in the jail so as to include:
· Visiting hours that include evenings and weekends

· Contact visits for family members

· No restrictions on visits, phone calls, and other contact with lawyers and clergy

· Adequate mental and physical health care

· Healthy food that complies with dietary restrictions and religious observances

· Unrestricted access to communal religious services

· Regular outdoor recreation free from exposure to hazardous environmental conditions

This is not a business that Essex County should be in.

Sincerely,

[Your name]