NJ Senators Want To End ICE Contracts As Hunger Strike Continues

HACKENSACK, NJ — Renewed calls for an end to Immigration and Customs Enforcement contracts in New Jersey counties have made their way from detainees, to activist groups, to, now, some of the most powerful voices in the state.

As an ICE detainee hunger strike and accompanying protests continue at the Bergen County Jail in Hackensack, New Jersey Senators Cory Booker and Bob Menendez have issued statements urging New Jersey counties to end their contracts with ICE.

This comes after activists from across the state were outraged when, after a 10-hour meeting on Monday night, the Hudson County Board of Freeholders renewed a contract with the agency.

"No governmental entity in New Jersey should be accepting money from ICE to detain individuals, particularly when the agency continues to pursue inhumane, xenophobic policies designed to terrorize and rip apart immigrant families; it has to stop," said Menendez.

According to a 2018 WNYC report, from January 2015 to March 2018, Bergen, Essex and Hudson Counties collected more than $150 million from ICE, who pays the counties between $110 to $120 per day to house detainees, according to Northjersey.com.

Menendez said he understands the burden the coronavirus pandemic has placed on municipalities, but said ICE shouldn't be where they turn to make up the difference.

"I do not believe taking blood money from ICE, to turn our jails into waystations for deportations for nonviolent, non-criminal immigration detainees, is consistent with our values nor is it in the best interests of our communities," he said.

ICE officials didn't comment on his remarks Friday.

Both Booker and Menendez believe that the incoming administration of President-elect Joe Biden may present an opportunity for sweeping immigration reform, but the former added that there's still steps to be taken now.

"In the meantime, all of us must do our part — and here in New Jersey that means, among other things, not entering into ICE detention contracts," he said.

Activists in the northern half of the state have been doing their part to bring awareness to conditions facing ICE detainees, including those currently on hunger strike in Bergen County.

Recently, the Abolish ICE NY/NJ Coalition explicitly called for the end to ICE contracts as well.

"The coalition specifically condemns ICE and the Bergen County Sheriff’s Office for denying people in detention appropriate and timely medical care and for retaliating against the people on hunger strike," said Gaby Puche, an organizer with Silk City Socialists and a member of the coalition, in a statement. "Further we do not believe that they should have ever entered into this contract. They clearly do not see the people they are incarcerating for ICE or for criminal charges as human beings."

ICE officials deny retaliating against detainees on hunger strike.

The strike began on Nov. 13, with daily protests outside the jail starting on Friday, Nov. 27.

On Tuesday afternoon, ICE officials said the number of detainees on hunger strike had shrunk to four, down from eight earlier this week, and nine at the beginning of the hunger strike.

As the hunger strike continues, activist groups have voiced growing concern surrounding the health of those on strike, and the conditions and medical attention available to them.

In a release from the coalition, the group quoted Marcial Morales Garcia, a former ICE detainee who took part in the first hunger strike in early November.

"The place is not for humans to live there, and every officer abuses their power, and the medical system is a total disaster," he said, in a statement through the group.

Activist groups, at least one of which is in contact with current ICE detainees, have also cited "inhumane" conditions, including a rat infestation and the lack of clean drinking water, saying detainees resorted to drinking out of toilets.

Earlier this week, an ICE-ERO spokesperson responded to accusations related to drinking water, and that the jail had turned off the heat where ICE detainees are living, saying both accusations "are completely false."

As the hunger strike continues, the health of ICE detainees is also coming into question.

According to the coalition, Wilson Peña Lojo, one of the men on hunger strike, was transported to an area hospital earlier this week after his blood pressure dropped "to a dangerously low level." Lojo, according to the coalition, has also tested positive for the coronavirus while detained, and is reportedly having kidney issues.

On Friday, ICE officials denied this account.

"No detainees have been hospitalized in connection with the hunger strike," they said.

Through the coalition, he reported that their cell windows had been covered, which appeared to be confirmed by video posted to social media from outside the jail.

When asked, ICE officials said no windows were covered, however.

"Not true. The health, welfare and safety of all ICE detainees, including those detainees being removed from the United States pursuant to a final order of removal, has been and will remain one of the agency’s highest priorities," officials said.

According to activist groups, detainees are being prompted in various ways to end their strike, either through official channels or otherwise.

On Friday, Matt Katz, a reporter for Gothamist and WNYC who first reported on the hunger strike, posted a letter to an ICE detainee on Twitter, which stated ICE couldn't release detainees for medical concerns while they were on hunger strike.

"ICE continues to abide by the court’s order for detainees who fall under Fraihat. ICE makes custody determinations every day on a case-by-case basis, in accordance with U.S. law and Department of Homeland Security (DHS) policy, considering the merits and factors of each case while adhering to current agency priorities, guidelines and legal mandates," ICE officials said.

According to the Southern Poverty Law Center, Fraihat V. Ice requires "U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement to take a number of important steps to protect medically vulnerable people in its custody from COVID-19."

ICE detainees are hoping to receive their release, so they can fight their deportation cases from outside the jail's walls, where the threat of contracting the coronavirus is lessened.

According to the activist group Ridgewood for Black Liberation, as long as the detained immigrants are seeking their release, protests will continue.

"Come out to Bergen County jail today, tomorrow, Saturday, Sunday, or any day next week between 1-4pm. We will not stop until they are freed," the group said.

This article originally appeared on the Ridgewood-Glen Rock Patch