Advocates want ICE center closed in Elizabeth. Here's why it's not yet

New Jersey is continuing to appeal a federal court ruling allowing the state's last immigrant detention center to remain open.

Earlier this month, the New Jersey Attorney General's Office filed in the 3rd District U.S. Court of Appeals in Philadelphia a 33-page reply to a brief filed by the federal government in March. That brief supported the position of the prison company CoreCivic, which operates the EDC, arguing that the facility in Elizabeth should stay open because a state law that could be interpreted to require it to close is unconstitutional and superseded by federal law.

The law, AB 5207, passed in 2021 by the State Legislature, prohibits local jails from entering into new contracts to house federal immigration detainees.

The EDC, near Newark Airport, is used by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement and can house up to 300 people. Detainees are usually asylum seekers, others waiting for immigration cases to be resolved, and those who have been charged with a crime.

Immigration advocates, during a virtual press briefing on April 19, called for its closure as they have in past years.

Katy Sastre, the interim Executive Director of First Friends of New Jersey and New York, said it is a facility with repressive conditions and policies that make it a horrific place for detention.

"It's very arbitrary how people are treated, but the norm seems to be mistreatment," Sastre said.

A spokesperson for CoreCivic denied that.

What's happening at EDC?

Sastre said during the press briefing, organized by the New Jersey Alliance for Immigrant Justice, based on information gathered by the First Friends of New Jersey and New York, there were 221 people detained at the EDC as of April 1. Emilio Dabul, an ICE spokesperson, said in an email that there were 244 people held at the center as of April 25.

Sastre said detainees at the center have relayed to First Friends that there are no windows and no yard. She recalled one 21-year-old detainee who spent six months at the center who would bring up constantly how he saw nothing but artificial light.

"Lightbulbs, he kept talking about lightbulbs. It's clearly in violation of several international standards with regards to the humane treatment of detained folks," Sastre said. "I think the impact on somebody's mental health really can't be overstated. A young man who suffered from depression and was kept in a cage for six months with fluorescent lights."

Sastre then pointed out some other negatives of the center, including limited visitation hours for family visiting detainees, long wait times for visitation, attorneys unable to access medical records of their detainee clients, and delays of at least a month in detainees getting their mail, especially money orders for purchasing commissary items.

This report about conditions inside the center is at odds with the most recent inspection report by ICE of the EDC.

In May of last year, ICE's Office of Detention Oversight conducted a follow-up compliance inspection of the detention center to remedy deficiencies in food service and environmental health and safety found in a previous inspection in November 2022. In the follow-up inspection, the ODO found the deficiencies no longer existed.

According to the report of the May 2023 inspection, ODO inspectors also interviewed 30 detainees, who all "voluntarily agreed to participate," and none "made allegations of discrimination, mistreatment, or abuse." Also, most reported satisfaction with facility services except for two female detainees.

Ryan Gustin, a spokesperson for CoreCivic, rebutted claims about the conditions at the center in an email to NorthJersey.com with the following points:

• There is an outdoor recreation area that provides natural light and the opportunity for the detainees to play sports and exercise.

• Visitation operates seven days a week and each detainee is allowed an hour of visitation every day should they choose.

• The detainees are also afforded the opportunity to participate in video visits with their families through facility provided tablets. Tablets are readily available in the housing units and throughout the facility.

• There are policies and procedures that apply to attorney's requesting detainee medical records. CoreCivis is not aware of any attorneys being denied access to the medical records if this process has been followed.

• Detainee mail is delivered Monday to Friday, except for holidays, by the facility mailroom staff.

Still in litigation

In January, New Jersey filed a 66-page brief in federal court to reverse the decision in August by federal District Judge Robert Kirsch to uphold a ruling sought by CoreCivic against the state ban that would have closed the Elizabeth Detention Center.

Kirsch ruled that the New Jersey statute was "unconstitutional" when applied to the federal government's operation of the Elizabeth Detention Center. He also said in his ruling that if the New Jersey facility was closed due to the state law and a neighboring state passed a similar law, it "would result in nothing short of chaos" for immigration enforcement.

In the brief, lawyers for the state said the district court "erred" in ruling that the Supremacy Clause of the U.S. Constitution gives CoreCivic "freestanding constitutional immunity" from the statute that New Jersey has cited in seeking to close the Elizabeth center.

Since then, there has been a legal back and forth between the state and the federal government.

In March, lawyers for the federal government, including the U.S. Attorney of New Jersey Philip R. Sellinger, filed a brief supporting the ruling by Judge Kirsch. In their brief, the lawyers argue that the state law AB 5207 is a "bar on operating a federal facility" and "plainly an obstacle to ICE operations, and the State makes no serious attempt to show otherwise."

The 38-page counter brief by the state filed on April 17 argues that the state law does not stop "ICE from detaining immigrants at federal facilities; it just bars companies like CoreCivic from doing so in private ones."

Both CoreCivic and ICE declined to comment about pending litigation.

Ricardo Kaulessar covers race, immigration, and culture for NorthJersey.com. For unlimited access to the most important news from your local community, please subscribe or activate your digital account today.

Email: kaulessar@northjersey.com

Twitter: @ricardokaul

This article originally appeared on NorthJersey.com: ICE center in Elizabeth NJ: Here is why it's still open