Friday, December 28, 2012

Sandy put ICE detainees in danger: Opinion

Sandy put ICE detainees in danger: Opinion

Sandy put ICE detainees in danger: Opinion

Published: Thursday, December 27, 2012, 7:00 AM     Updated: Thursday, December 27, 2012, 7:05 AM
Delaney Hall in Newark Delaney Hall, Newark.  
By Karina Wilkinson
Eunice Lee’s harrowing account (“Sandy trapped guards and staff at Essex County jail,” Dec. 9) of the conditions inside Essex County Correctional Facility and the damage sustained by the flooding during and after Hurricane Sandy, reminds us that it wasn’t a good idea to expand detention in New Jersey last year by adding 750 immigration detention beds to two facilities in Newark.
Immigration and Custom Enforcement’s response, when asked for more public information a week after the storm, was that “all of our detainees in the Northeast have access to hot meals, hot water, phone, etc.” Lee’s report reveals that wasn’t the case in the immediate aftermath of the storm: “For four days, inmates had no hot showers and were served cold food.” I’m not sure when phone service was restored at the Essex County jail, but phones were out for periods at the facilities, as was heat.
The Hudson County jail, Essex County jail and the adjacent Delaney Hall were surrounded by water from a 5-foot storm surge in the Newark Bay. The flooding outside made them inaccessible to even Essex County Executive Joseph DiVincenzo, who made an attempt to get to the jail and himself had to be rescued.
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Essex and Hudson county jails flooded, and some detained immigrants in ICE’s custody had to be moved to higher floors. The three facilities together are under agreements that allow them to house as many as 1,500 ICE detainees, two-thirds of the detention capacity of the state. How could ICE or the counties ensure the safety of people in their custody when access was cut off — for two days, in the case of Essex County? ICE needed to do its due diligence on the disaster plans for New Jersey facilities. What is ICE’s evacuation plan for detained immigrants in New Jersey? And what type of disaster would it take to trigger it, if not Sandy? Was there any thought to reassuring the public or getting information out about the status of the facilities in the aftermath? It looks like ICE was negligent.
Doremus Avenue, where Essex County jail and Delaney Hall are located, has many sites contaminated with chemicals, and the nearby Passaic Valley Sewerage Authority lost power and released hundreds of millions of gallons of untreated sewage during the storm. Residents of the Ironbound district of Newark are being advised by the EPA to use “N95” respirators to enter homes that were flooded, partly because of a nearby Superfund site. The EPA needs to test affected facilities to determine whether they are still inhabitable.
It happened that the detention facilities back-up generators weren’t overwhelmed and power wasn’t completely lost for a week, as it was in a Newark prison, Northern State.
And it happened that the electronic doors in Delaney Hall didn’t unlock, as they did in another Newark facility run by the same company, Community Education Centers. The mayhem in the other CEC facility had to be brought under to control by four law enforcement agencies. As bad as they were, the effects could have been much worse for the detention facilities.
While Hudson County’s jail was named by Detention Watch Network as one of the 10 worst facilities in the country, this is a reminder that ICE shouldn’t be using any jails for immigration detention. Detention is not supposed to be punishment.
Monmouth County Coalition for Immigrant Rights renews its call for ICE to end unnecessary detention of immigrant men and women, to prepare adequately for disasters and states of emergency, and to provide up-to-date information to the public. We also call for EPA testing of the facilities affected by the Newark Bay storm surge.
Karina Wilkinson of Highland Park is co-founder of the Monmouth County Coalition for Immigrant Rights.


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Wednesday, December 19, 2012

International Migrants Day at The Rodino Federal Building (12-18-12) : P...




Rev. Seth Kaper-Dale has co-pastored the Reformed Church of Highland Park for 11 years.  He is a graduate of Princeton Theological Seminary, and spent formative time in Ecuador and India before coming to RCHP.

Seth and wife/co-pastor Stephanie Kaper-Dale have been married for 15 years and have 3 daughters.  Seth co-formed Who Is My Neighbor Inc (HP community development agency), started RCHP-Affordable Housing Corporation and spearheads much of the Immigration work of the church.

You can find more about the incredible things he and his church are doing here:

http://rchighlandpark.org/
http://www.facebook.com/ReformedChurchOfHighlandPark

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Migrant Families Speak Out & Rally for Humane Immigration Policy on International Migrants Day

On International Migrants Day, Migrant Families Speak Out & Community Members Rally for Humane Immigration Policy

Newark, NJ  (December 18th, 2012) -- On December 18 International Migrants Day, advocates, immigrant families and community members will speak out and rally at the federal office building in Newark NJ to demand the Obama Administration shift away from deportation policies that separate families. During the first Obama administration, a record 1.4 million immigrants have been deported.

http://www.facebook.com/events/492077704157400/#

"Family speak out" will be moderated by a young woman whose life has been turned upside down by broken immigration policy. Her story can be found at http://www.afsc.org/story/keeping-family-together-nieces-fight-immigration-reform

For years, migrant families in the U.S. have to struggle with the lack of immigration status and keeping their families together. "I know many families including mine are facing imminent family separation," said Kokou, father of two girls, "no parent wants to see their children grow up on their own."

On International Migrants Day, migrant families that have been separated by current policy will gather and speak about their experiences and demand the Administration use its discretion to allow immigrants to stay with their children and family members. Immigrant and citizen community members will also rally to demand the U.S. Congress pass humane immigration policy that upholds human rights and family values.

The American Friends Service Committee (AFSC), a Quaker peace and social justice organization, is planning a series of events to mark International Human Rights Day, December 10, and International Migrants Day, December 18. Through this coast-to-coast effort, AFSC is calling on Congress and the Obama administration to halt policies that separate families and militarizes communities. For a complete list of human rights activities, visit www.afsc.org

What: Migrant Families Speak Out & Rally for Humane Immigration Policy
Where: Federal Office Building at 970 Broad Street, Newark, NJ
When: DECEMBER 18, 2012; 4pm - 5pm 
                                             
Contact: Pauline Ndzie, community member, 973-563-0798
Chia-Chia Wang, American Friends Service Committee, 646-509-3860

You can find out more about American Friends Service Committee's Immigrant Rights Program in Newark and the amazing work they do by looking here:

https://afsc.org/program/immigrant-rights-program-newark-nj
http://www.facebook.com/pages/AFSC-Immigrant-Rights-Program/184778154878751
http://www.immigrationadvocates.org/nonprofit/legaldirectory/organization.393104-American_Friends_Service_Committee_Immigrant_Rights_Program_Newark_Office
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Wednesday, December 12, 2012

The “New Normal” for Immigration Detention in New Jersey

The “New Normal” for Immigration Detention in New Jersey

The “New Normal” for Immigration Detention in New Jersey

December 12, 2012

A Call for Environmental Testing and ICE/County Accountability in Sandy Aftermath

By Karina Wilkinson, Co-Founder of Monmouth County Coalition for Immigrant Rights, Kwilkinson_act@yahoo.com. Cross-posted from CIVIC’s blog.
Screen Shot 2012-12-12 at 11.02.29 AMEST
Instagram photo by Djknyce
Newark, NJ – In case anyone needed reminding about why it wasn’t a good idea to expand detention in New Jersey by adding 750 beds last year to two facilities in Newark, the Star Ledger reported Sunday on conditions inside Essex County jail and the damage sustained by the flooding during and after Hurricane Sandy.  The account is harrowing and the pictures, disturbing.
When I emailed ICE to ask for more public information a week after the storm, the response I got was that “all of our detainees in the Northeast have access to hot meals, hot water, phone, etc.”  Sunday’s report on Essex jail reveals that wasn’t the case in the immediate aftermath of the storm: “For four days, inmates had no hot showers and were served cold food.” I’m not sure when phone service was restored at Essex, but phones were out for periods at the facilities, as was heat.
HudsonEssex, and the adjacent Delaney Hall were surrounded by water from a five foot storm surge in the Newark Bay.  The flooding outside made them inaccessible to even County Executive DiVincenzo, who made some sort of heroic (?) attempt to get to the jail and himself had to be rescued.
Essex and Hudson County jails flooded inside, and detained immigrants in ICE’s custody had to be moved to higher floors. The three facilities together are under agreements that allow them to house as many as 1,500 ICE detainees, two thirds of the detention capacity of the state.  How could ICE or the counties ensure the safety of people in their custody when access was cut off – for two days in the case of Essex?
There is a long-standing joke that the Essex County jail evacuation plan has to involve boats, which isn’t so funny anymore. ICE needed to do its due diligence on the disaster plans for New Jersey facilities. What is ICE’s evacuation plan for detained immigrants in New Jersey?  And what type of disaster would it take to trigger it, if not Sandy? Was there any thought to reassuring the public or getting information out about the status of the facilities in the aftermath?
Doremus Avenue, where Essex and Delaney Hall are located, has many sites contaminated with chemicals, and the nearby Passaic Valley Sewerage Authority lost power and released hundreds of millions of gallons of untreated sewage during the storm. Residents of the Ironbound district of Newark are being advised by the EPA to use “N95” respirators to enter homes that were flooded, partly because of a nearby Superfund site. The EPA needs to test affected facilities to determine whether they are still inhabitable.
It happened that the detention facilities’ back-up generators weren’t overwhelmed, and power wasn’t completely lost for a week, like it was in a Newark prison, Northern State.  And it happened that the electronic doors in Delaney Hall didn’t unlock like they did in another Newark facility run by the same company, Community Education Centers (CEC).  Four law enforcement agencies were called in to bring mayhem under control in the other CEC facility.  As bad as they were, the effects could have been much worse for the detention facilities.
While the Detention Watch Network named Hudson one of the ten worst facilities in the country, this is a reminder that ICE shouldn’t be using any jails for immigration detention. Detention is not supposed to be punishment.
Monmouth County Coalition for Immigrant Rights renews its call for ICE to end unnecessary detention of immigrant men and women, to prepare adequately for disasters and states of emergency and to provide up to date information to the public.  We also call for EPA testing of the facilities affected by the Newark Bay storm surge.

Monday, November 19, 2012

Advocacy group calls on Obama to stop housing detainees at Kearny jail

Advocacy group calls on Obama to stop housing detainees at Kearny jail

Advocacy group calls on Obama to stop housing detainees at Kearny jail

James Queally/The Star-Ledger By James Queally/The Star-Ledger
on November 15, 2012 at 4:10 PM, updated November 15, 2012 at 7:54 PM





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obamaaa.JPG Citing poor medical treatment and abusive treatment by guards, a national immigration rights advocacy group called on President Obama to stop housing federal detainees at the Hudson County Correctional Facility this afternoon.
KEARNY — Citing denial of medical care, inadequate food and verbally abusive prison guards, a national watchdog group urged President Obama today to immediately break a contract with the Hudson County Correctional Facility that allows the jail to house immigration detainees.
In a report titled "Expose and Close," Detention Watch Network named the Kearny facility as one of the 10 in the country that houses federal immigration detainees. The nine others cited in the report are in Alabama, Texas, Florida, Arizona and Illinois.
"Conditions at these facilities have gotten so bad the only option is to shut them down," said Andrea Black, the group’s executive director.
The Hudson jail has been housing detainees on behalf of the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency since 1995 and receives $111 per inmate, according to the report. In an interview earlier this year, Hudson County spokesman Jim Kennelly said there were roughly 435 ICE detainees among the jail’s 2,100 inmate population.
Hudson County receives about $16 million a year to housing immigration detainees, Kennelly said.
In its report, Detention Watch Network claimed several detainees at the Hudson facility have been denied access to medical care for serious conditions including HIV and bi-polar disorder. Guards at the jail also routinely refer to immigration detainees as "animals," curse at them and trash their possessions, according to the report.
On the national level, the group wants the Obama administration to stop housing immigration detainees in privately run prisons and county jails, a move Black argues has turned the work of housing immigration detainees into a for-profit business that generates roughly $1.7 billion in revenue each year.
The Detention Watch report is the latest in a series of scandals involving New Jersey correctional facilities this year. Over the summer, a series of New York Times reports revealed a secret world of abuse and violence inside privately run halfway houses in Essex and Mercer counties.
In February, the Passaic County jail also entered into a settlement with the American Civil Liberties Union after it filed a class-action lawsuit calling for large-scale reforms at the facility. The complex, which also was once used to house federal detainees, has been under scrutiny since 2008 when a federal judge began commuting sentences of inmates housed there because conditions at the jail had become deplorable.
Kennelly did not offer additional comment, but a representative for ICE scoffed at the report, saying the agency has dramatically improved conditions at immigrant holding facilities over the past several years.
"ICE is in the process of fully reviewing the reports. However, it is disappointing that the reports appear to be built primarily on anonymous allegations that cannot be investigated or substantiated, and many second hand sources and anecdotes that pre-date the agency’s initiation of detention reform," spokeswoman Barbara Gonzalez wrote in a statement. "ICE stands behind the significant work we’ve done reforming the detention system by increasing federal oversight, improving conditions of confinement and prioritizing the health and safety of the individuals in our custody."
In a prepared statement, Hudson County officials said they provide adequate food and medical attention to all inmates at the facility, also noting that corrections officers professional development training each year so they can better address detainees' concerns.

First Friends, a community group interested in the rights of those incarcerated in Hudson County, also have daily access to the facility and are available to receive inmate complaints, Kennelly said.


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ACLU lawsuit fights mandatory jail time for immigration detainees

ACLU lawsuit fights mandatory jail time for immigration detainees

ACLU lawsuit fights mandatory jail time for immigration detainees

James Queally/The Star-Ledger By James Queally/The Star-Ledger
on November 15, 2012 at 8:24 PM, updated November 16, 2012 at 6:25 AM





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detention-center-afp-getty.JPG A lawsuit filed by the New Jersey chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union is challenging the federal government's practice of mandatory incarceration for immigration detainees.
Garfield Gayle has been sitting in a Monmouth County jail cell for the past eight months. The last time he committed a crime, according to records, was in May 1995.
The 53-year-old Jamaica native, now a legal U.S. resident, has little hope of bail, but Gayle doesn't face murder or assault charges, and his criminal history is not a violent one.
In 1995, police allege, Gayle was convicted of possessing a small amount of marijuana. In April, nearly 17 years later, he opened his front door to find officials from the U.S. Immigrations and Customs Enforcement Agency waiting for him.
He was under arrest, they said, and facing deportation — because of the marijuana conviction.
Gayle’s residency status, arrest and incarceration are recounted in a complaint filed in New Jersey today that could have national implications.
An American Civil Liberties Union lawsuit is challenging the federal government’s practice of mandatory incarceration for immigration detainees. The ACLU claims the government unnecessarily incarcerates deportation candidates even if they are documented citizens and pose no flight risk or threat.
"It doesn’t make any sense," said Michael Tan, a staff attorney with the ACLU’s Immigrants Rights project. "It’s contrary to the constitution to lock people up who very well could have a right to be here."
A spokeswoman for ICE said the agency would not comment on pending litigation.
Tan said there are hundreds of federal detainees like Gayle, immigrants who face deportation because of prior criminal offenses and remain in custody at local detention centers. Many of these inmates possess green cards or other forms of documentation verifying their residence, and most are long-term U.S. residents with full-time jobs and a "strong claim" to remain in the country, Tan said.
Gayle, a Brooklyn resident, was employed. He is divorced with two daughters and grandchildren.
The lawsuit also argues ICE routinely misinforms immigration detainees of their right to contest mandatory detention, leaving them little chance of returning home until their deportation proceedings are completed, which could take months or years. The form ICE uses to notify deportation candidates tells detainees they "may not request a review" by an immigration judge, which the ACLU argues is factually incorrect.
While today's lawsuit is seeking relief only for the approximately 400 such detainees in New Jersey, Tan said further lawsuits are possible if President Obama’s administration does not act.
"This is the first case on this issue, I think we’re waiting to see how the government deals with it," he said. "From our perspective there is nothing that stops the administration from ending this practice now, of subjecting people like Mr. Gayle to unlawful incarceration."
ICE’s detainment practices also came under fire when Detention Watch Now, a national advocacy group, called on Obama to stop housing federal detainees in what it considered the 10 worst immigration detainment facilities in the country. One New Jersey prison, the Hudson County Correctional Facility, was on the list.
In the meantime, relatives of people like Gayle will simply have to wait and wonder about their loved ones.
"A very important person is missing from their lives," Tan said of Gayle’s grandchildren. "They notice that Mr. Gayle isn’t there at the end of the school day."

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Thursday, November 15, 2012

ACLU Files Class Action Lawsuit Challenging Mandatory Immigration Lock-Up

ACLU Files Class Action Lawsuit Challenging Mandatory Immigration Lock-Up

Michael Tan

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ACLU Files Class Action Lawsuit Challenging Mandatory Immigration Lock-Up

Posted: 11/15/2012 10:52 am

Garfield Gayle, a 59-year-old green card holder from Jamaica, has lived in the United States for 30 years. He raised two U.S. citizen daughters, and has long worked as a union carpenter in Brooklyn, New York.
Nearly eight months ago, when federal agents put him in handcuffs at his home, he learned that the government was trying to deport him based on an alleged attempted drug sale offense that happened more than 17 years ago. Since then, the government has held him in mandatory immigration lock-up without any opportunity for a bail hearing. The government has never even alleged that he poses any danger or flight risk. In addition, Mr. Gayle's long residence in the United States and close family ties make him a strong candidate for immigration relief from a judge, allowing him to keep his green card and stay in this country.
When it comes to Mr. Gayle's family, the cost of losing him to immigration lock-up is devastating. Mr. Gayle is an emotional anchor in his family, supplying love and support to his children and grandchildren. It was Mr. Gayle who bought school supplies for his kids, taught them how to cook and how to sew a button on a torn shirt. At work, he was just as attentive as a skilled union carpenter, earning high praise from his employers over the past decade.
Today, the ACLU filed a class action lawsuit on behalf of Mr. Gayle and hundreds of immigrants in New Jersey who, like him, are subject to mandatory immigration detention. The lawsuit -- Gayle v. Napolitano -- challenges the federal government's policy of locking up immigrants in deportation proceedings without any chance for release on bail, even when they have strong arguments that they have a right to continue living in America. Many immigrants are locked up for as long as it takes to conclude their deportation cases, even if they pose no danger or flight risk.
Mandatory immigration lock-up is unconstitutional when used on people who, like Mr. Gayle, have strong arguments that they can stay in the country -- that's why the ACLU Immigrants' Rights Project is bringing the case, along with the ACLU of New Jersey and Gibbons P.C. There is no reason to incarcerate people for months or even years on end when they have every incentive to show up in court, fight their cases, and win the right to stay in America with their loved ones. It's especially wasteful considering the offenses that trigger mandatory detention are often very old and overwhelmingly minor and nonviolent, such as misdemeanor drug possession, shoplifting, or turnstile jumping. Indeed, as with Mr. Gayle, the people placed in mandatory detention often do not meet the qualifications for deportation -- either because their alleged crimes turn out not to be deportable offenses, or because they are legally entitled to immigration relief allowing them to stay in the country.
Sadly, Mr. Gayle is far from alone. The number of immigration detainees has spiked since the passage of the Illegal Immigration Reform and Immigrant Responsibility Act of 1996, which requires the detention of immigrants deemed deportable based on an alleged crime -- a population largely made up by people of color. In 2011, the Department of Homeland Security imprisoned a record-breaking 429,000 immigrants in more than 250 facilities across the country. The cost of the current system, which holds up to 33,400 immigrants on any given day, costs $164 per head per day, adding up to a grand total of $2 billion annually. Immigration detention has been a windfall for the private prison industry, which is responsible for nearly half the detention population, at the expense of American taxpayers and American liberties. Many of these facilities are notorious for their substandard and inhumane conditions -- including the ten facilities targeted by the "Expose and Close" campaign launched today by Detention Watch Network to shut them down.

*Only facilities with an average daily population of 1 or more detained immigrants are included. Data for 2011 is through Sept. 9. Credits: The Investigative Reporting Workshop, Jacob Fenton, Catherine Rentz, Stokely Baksh and Lisa Hill. Source: ICE.

The ACLU's lawsuit seeks to end a practice that goes against fundamental American values of fairness and equal protection under the law. Immigrants like Mr. Gayle, who are locked up without hearings to determine if their detention is justified, deserve due process and constitutional rights. The ACLU is fighting to make sure those rights are protected.
 
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Monday, November 12, 2012

15 Inmates Escaped From New Jersey Halfway House During Hurricane Sandy

15 Inmates Escaped From New Jersey Halfway House During Hurricane Sandy

As Storm Raged, 15 Fled New Jersey Halfway House

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When the power failed at Logan Hall, a sprawling halfway house in Newark that resembles a prison, the rooms went dark.
Richard Perry/The New York Times
Logan Hall in Newark. All but one of the 15 inmates who escaped have been recaptured.
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Then the locks clicked open.
What happened next is likely to fuel the debate over the future of the large, privately run halfway houses in New Jersey, which have been criticized for mismanagement and lax oversight.
As Hurricane Sandy raged outside, dozens of male inmates burst into Logan Hall’s corridors. They threatened female inmates, tore apart furniture and ripped signs inscribed with inspirational sayings from the walls, witnesses said.
At least 15 inmates escaped from the halfway house, including some who had served time for aggravated assault, weapons possession and armed robbery.
It was one of the largest mass escapes in the recent history of New Jersey’s corrections system, according to official statistics. All but one of the escapees have since been recaptured.
After the violence broke out on Oct. 29, about 50 law enforcement officers from at least four state and county agencies converged on Logan Hall, officials said. Many were called at home and told to report immediately to the halfway house.
Community Education Centers, the politically connected company that runs the 650-bed halfway house, appears to have done little if anything to prepare for the storm. The workers on duty, many of whom were poorly paid, did not know how to operate the backup generator, witnesses said. They did not even have flashlights.
Gov. Chris Christie has long been an outspoken supporter of Community Education, which dominates the halfway house system in New Jersey. The Christie administration has not publicly disclosed that there was a disturbance that night at Logan Hall.
Mr. Christie’s close friend and political adviser, William J. Palatucci, is a senior executive at Community Education. Mr. Palatucci announced last week that he would step down from the company. The company said the resignation was not related to the events at Logan Hall.
A spokesman for Mr. Christie referred questions about Logan Hall to the State Department of Corrections.
Both the Corrections Department and Community Education played down the violence and the escapes.
“To characterize this as some sort of mass prison break is a reckless exaggeration in support of a false narrative,” a department spokesman, Matthew Schuman, said.
He said any assessment of what happened had to take into consideration “the extraordinary circumstances” of the storm.
Community Education said in a statement, “A small number of the 547 residents did take advantage of the storm to create a minor disturbance and damaged a few vending machines.”
The company noted that no one suffered serious injuries at Logan Hall, and added that it did not experience problems during the storm at its five other large halfway houses in New Jersey.
Law enforcement officials, workers and others who were at Logan Hall acknowledged that Hurricane Sandy was highly unusual and caused difficulties for institutions across the New York region.
But they pointed out that none of New Jersey’s prisons or jails suffered such a violent outbreak during the storm.
Mayor Cory A. Booker of Newark, whose police force responded to the disturbance, called it “obviously a serious event.”
David Thomas, executive director of the State Parole Board, said in a statement that the disturbance was quelled by officers from four law enforcement agencies: the Newark police, the Essex County Sheriff’s Department, the Essex County Corrections Department and the Parole Board.
Essex County officials said they were investigating what happened and had assigned extra law enforcement officers to Logan Hall, which typically houses parolees and inmates from the county jail.
Democratic lawmakers in Trenton have called for an overhaul of the halfway houses since The New York Times published a series of articles in June that described escapes, violence, drug use and other problems in the system.
Since 2005, roughly 5,200 inmates and parolees have escaped from the state’s halfway houses, according to state records. Corrections experts said the high number of escapes was an indication that the system was troubled. The Christie administration has said in recent months that it has put in place measures to crack down on the escapes.
New Jersey has been at the forefront of the movement to use privately operated halfway houses to reduce corrections costs. The system handles thousands of inmates annually.
The disturbance at Logan Hall may have an impact on the Legislature’s scrutiny of the system.
Assemblyman Charles Mainor, a Hudson County Democrat who is chairman of the Law and Public Safety Committee, said he was troubled that the administration had not disclosed what happened.
“I did not know,” Mr. Mainor said. “Of course, they wouldn’t want me to know.”
A law enforcement officer, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak to a reporter, recounted harrowing moments early on when the disturbance could have spiraled out of control. “The place was turned upside down,” said Joe Amato, president of the union representing Essex County corrections officers, which has long opposed the privately run halfway houses. “The inmates basically rioted.”
At one point, a group of men, many wearing improvised masks that revealed only their eyes, headed toward the back of the building, where the female inmates were held, according to workers and correction officers.
A supervisor tried to stop them, demanding to know where they were going.
“You know why we’re here!” an inmate replied, according to a halfway house worker and a corrections officer who were there.
The supervisor managed to fend them off. Workers then took the group of female inmates to a closed-off reception area, where they huddled together for safety until law enforcement officers arrived.
“With the power out, no generator, no flashlights — you can’t not be scared,” said a worker who was there.
Dozens of men then headed through the unlocked front door to an open lot facing the street. They took blankets to throw over the barbed wire and chairs to scale the fence, but soon saw that the equipment was unnecessary.
The gate was open.
Six of those who escaped were arrested quickly. Six others were caught more than three days later. Two were on the run for about a week, and one is still missing, officials said.
When calm was restored, corrections officers and workers said they discovered that one target of the inmates’ rage had been the signs in the hallways.
The signs bore motivational slogans like “Stop Lying” and “Admit When You Are Wrong.” They had been torn down and stomped on.




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Friday, October 19, 2012

ICE Scaling Back 287(g) Program » Immigration Impact

ICE Scaling Back 287(g) Program » Immigration Impact


Oct 19

ICE Scaling Back 287(g) Program

The 287(g) program has been controversial and criticized for years, and immigrant advocates have demanded that US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) terminate the program.  Section 287(g) of the INA allows the Secretary of Homeland Security to enter into agreements that delegate immigration powers to local police, but only through negotiated agreements, documented in Memoranda of Agreement (MOAs).    The task force model deputizes police to enforce immigration laws in the course of their regular activities on the streets, and the jail model places deputized police officers within jails.  A recent development raises questions about the future of the program.

Critics of the 287(g) program have argued that it is not effective, does not target serious criminals, harms community policing efforts, and leads to racial profiling.
ICE recently sent letters to all jurisdictions that have 287(g) partnerships informing them that their Memoranda of Understandings (MOAs) – which expired on September 30 –  have been extended through December 31, 2012.  Additionally, ICE stated that they are phasing out the 287(g) task force models because they “have proven to be a less efficient means of identifying priority individuals subject to removal compared to other enforcement programs.” It is unclear whether task force models will be ended after December 31, or whether a more gradual phasing out is planned.   It is also unknown when and how jail model agreements will be renegotiated. For example, Sheriff Adrian Garcia of Harris County, TX is reportedly asking ICE to make specific changes to its MOA before signing off on a new agreement.  It is unclear whether ICE plans to make any modifications to some or all of the MOAs.
Apparently ICE is phasing out the task force model in favor of Secure Communities, which is already activated in most jurisdictions across the country.  ICE spokeswoman Danielle Bennett stated, “The Secure Communities screening process, coupled with federal officers, is more consistent, efficient and cost effective in identifying and removing criminal and other priority aliens.”
While the two programs are very different, Secure Communities and the task force model can be seen as redundant.  All persons booked into jails have their fingerprints run against immigration databases, regardless of whether the arresting officer was a deputized 287(g) officer or not.  On the other hand, the 287(g) jail model can work in combination with Secure Communities.  287(g) officers can follow up when someone receives a Secure Communities database hit, and can issue a detainer or a Notice to Appear, initiating deportation proceedings.  Even if there is no database hit, 287(g) jail officers can interview persons they believe to be noncitizens and initiate immigration enforcement if appropriate.
However, there are still many problems with the 287(g) jail model. Critics of the 287(g) program have argued that it is not effective, does not target serious criminals, harms community policing efforts, and leads to racial profiling.  ICE recently terminated a 287(g) program in Alamance County, NC after the Department of Justice completed a two year investigation and concluded that the sheriff’s office racially profiled Latinos.  Both the DHS Office of Inspector General (OIG) and the Government Accountability Office (GAO) have found serious problems with the program and have made numerous recommendations, all of which have not been complied with yet.
he 287(g) program – the jail and the task force models — remains highly problematic, and many organizations are calling for it to be terminated entirely.  While ICE continues to have difficulty sticking to its own priorities, the problems are enhanced when immigration enforcement is outsourced to local law enforcement agencies.  Given the evidence of racial profiling and civil rights violations, and the harm to community relations and community safety that 287(g) can create, it is definitely time for ICE to make a decision about the continuation of the program.
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Thursday, October 18, 2012

Immigration Enforcement and the Fugitive Slave Acts: Exploring Their Similarities by Karla McKanders :: SSRN

Immigration Enforcement and the Fugitive Slave Acts: Exploring Their Similarities by Karla McKanders :: SSRN

Immigration Enforcement and the Fugitive Slave Acts: Exploring Their Similarities


Karla Mari McKanders


University of Tennessee College of Law

October 9, 2012

Catholic Law Review, Vol. 61.4, No. 1, 2012, Forthcoming

Abstract:     
Two seemingly different federal enforcement systems that affect the movement of unskilled workers — the 1793 and 1850 Fugitive Slave Acts and current state immigration enforcement policies — have remarkable similarities. Both systems are political stories that are demonstrative of the failure of federalism. The federal government’s current failure to enforce immigration laws has encouraged state and local governments to pass their own laws. Alabama and Arizona have enacted far-reaching laws, which are similar to the federal Immigration and Nationality Act § 287(g) programs. Both have been challenged on constitutional preemption and equal protection grounds. Recent scholarship has focused mainly on whether the state and local actions are constitutionally preempted. Current scholarship has overlooked ways the federal government has previously utilized state and local entities to enforce federal laws that govern individual rights. To date, legal scholars have not engaged in this comparison. This article challenges the notion of the Fugitive Slave Acts’ irrelevance in this context by examining in detail the similarities of both systems and the results that are produced when the federal government is provided with unfettered discretion to abrogate individual rights.

The article proceeds in three parts. Part I provides an overview of the implementation and enforcement of the Constitution’s Fugitive Slave Clause and the 1793 and 1850 Fugitive Slave Acts. This Part also explores the implementation of the Fourteenth Amendment’s Equal Protection Clause and the evisceration of the Fugitive Slave Acts when subsequent immigration laws refused to recognize equal protection rights for immigrants. Part II explores the reverse immigration-federalism story in which states and localities are enacting immigration legislation against the backdrop of federal inaction. Part III explores how both the Fugitive Slave Acts and current immigration enforcement laws create outsiders by failing to protect individual liberty rights. The article concludes with broad doctrinal lessons on immigration federalism and demonstrates how the law and legal actors can perpetuate norms that facilitate the creation of tiered personhood.

Number of Pages in PDF File: 28
Keywords: immigration, fugitive slave act, equal protection, immigration enforcement
Accepted Paper Series