ICE is exploring expanding immigrant detention facilities in New Jersey, with the potential for 600 new beds

ICE is considering proposals to expand its capacity to detain immigrants in New Jersey and could potentially add 600 beds in at least two facilities, according to a lawsuit filed by the ACLU.

The news comes as the new Trump administration pledges to carry out mass deportations of undocumented immigrants, an operation that experts say would require a huge expansion of the country’s detention infrastructure.

However, this expansion proposal began under President Joe Biden.

The ACLU said it obtained the records from a Freedom of Information Act lawsuit filed in September. The documents show that the facilities under consideration include the Elizabeth Detention Center in Elizabeth and the Albert M. “Bo” Robinson Center in Trenton.

According to NorthJersey.com, the Elizabeth Center near Newark Airport houses up to 300 immigrant detainees, many of them asylum seekers. The 1,000-bed center in Trenton held state-sentenced prisoners until 2022, the New Jersey Monitor reported.

The New Jersey Alliance for Immigrant Justice said the plans raise concerns that the state “could become the launching pad for the new Trump administration’s mass deportations and detentions across the Northeast, which could impact surrounding communities in New York City and Philadelphia.” “

Efforts to reach ICE officials for comment were not immediately successful.

The documents provided by ICE provide limited insight into the detention proposals, the ACLU said, as the records appear to include only the environmental impact statements filed by CoreCivic Inc. and GEO Group, both large private prison owners and operators.

The center in Elizabeth is the only functioning detention center in New Jersey.

Amy Torres, executive director of the Justice Alliance, called on Biden to use his remaining time in office to stop any expansion of incarceration.

“Without action, this will be his legacy,” she said. “He not only handed over the keys, he also built the infrastructure for it.”

U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement operates or contracts with more than 190 detention centers nationwide. Three are in Pennsylvania: the 1,876-bed Moshannon Valley Processing Center in Clearfield County, the Clinton County Correctional Facility and the Pike County Correctional Facility.

The Berks County Detention Center was closed last year after years of lawsuits and protests.

According to the Migration Policy Institute in Washington, about 440,000 undocumented immigrants live in New Jersey and another 153,000 live in Pennsylvania. About 47,000 live in Philadelphia. Everyone is threatened with deportation.

The ACLU sought documents related to a federal request for proposals for additional ICE detention space near Newark. The tender, released in June this year, called for “comprehensive detention services” for undocumented men and women.

The documents do not indicate whether other facilities in New Jersey responded to ICE’s request, the ACLU said.

ACLU-NJ campaign strategist Ami Kachalia called on the Biden administration to immediately halt any expansion, noting that New Jersey officials have taken steps to phase out ICE contracts.

“Right now we’re looking at maybe 600 beds, but given the fact that the Trump administration has been quite vocal … we think there could be a large-scale expansion of detention centers in New Jersey,” Kachalia said.

New Jersey lawmakers banned immigrant detention centers in the state in 2021, a law that was later declared unconstitutional. The legal battle over this law continues.

“The Biden administration is simply paving the way for mass incarceration and deportations for the new Trump administration,” Eunice Cho, senior staff attorney at the ACLU’s National Prison Project, said in a statement. “The Biden administration must instead work to close these facilities now.”