'Free Them All' Spray-Painted On Bergen Sheriff's Home: Officials
ENGLEWOOD, NJ — Amid calls for Bergen County to end their Immigration and Customs Enforcement contract, and for the release of ICE detainees at Bergen County Jail, the Prosecutor's Office reports that Sheriff Anthony Cureton's home was vandalized overnight Tuesday.
According to the Prosecutor's Office, the phrase "Free them all" was spray-painted on the home's garage door sometime after 9 p.m. Tuesday. Red paint was also thrown onto the garage door, officials said.
No charges have been brought, but the investigation is ongoing, authorities said.
The activist group Abolish ICE NY-NJ Coalition released a news release Thursday morning, stating clearly that though they have been organizing at the jail, they are in no way responsible for the act of vandalism.
"The Abolish ICE NY-NJ Coalition and the organizations it represents are not responsible for the vandalism at Sheriff Anthony Cureton’s house. Our sole focus is supporting the men currently on hunger strike for their freedom," they wrote.
"As such, we are concerned that not nearly as much effort is being put into investigating the conditions at the jail as is being put into investigating the incident outside Sheriff Cureton's home. We wish that all the other government officials in Bergen would also direct their attention to the conditions inside the jail and join us in advocating for the release of everyone in ICE."
This comes as protests in solidarity with ICE detainees on a hunger strike outside the Bergen County Jail have continued daily since Nov. 27.
As of Monday, ICE officials said six detained immigrants were participating in the hunger strike, but activist groups shared growing concern that the health of those on hunger strike was deteriorating.
READ MORE: PHOTOS: Protests, Hunger Strike Continue At Bergen County Jail
According to the Coalition on Wednesday, two detained immigrants are in the process of being transferred to the Buffalo Federal Detention Facility in Batavia, New York, including a man on his 26th day without food, who, the coalition said, has lost 40 pounds in that time.
Activists say this transfer puts detainees at greater risk of COVID-19 exposure, the reason the hunger strike began in the first place.
"Transferring those putting their bodies on their line for a chance of freedom is a clear act of retaliation," said Tania Mattos, Policy and Northeast Monitoring Manager at Freedom for Immigrants. "The process separates people from their network of support, worsens the COVID-19 pandemic behind bars, and is directly responsible for the record number of deaths in ICE detention this year. Officials must act immediately to release those on hunger strike, and take substantive steps towards decarcerating ICE prisons."
ICE officials did not immediately respond for comment Thursday morning.
This article originally appeared on the Englewood-Englewood Cliffs Patch
