$200 Million, Jailed Immigrants and a Democratic Bastion Under Fire

$200 mill goes as long way being spread around. Christmas came early and the buzzards are circling the goodies.

Learn more about Essex County's contract with ICE at https://iceoutofessex.weebly.com/.

Regardless of the far left anti-fa protesters who believe ICE should be abolished and the borders opened, we have laws in this country. When those laws are not followed and/or those responsible for enforcing the law are not respected, we cease to have a civilized society. That is the problem with these protesters - not only are they attacking the agency whose roll it is to enforce the law, they are attacking those working there, and some are destroying property. The far left applauds this behavior, as do most of the current Dem candidates. Abysmal.

To the County Executive’s point, being near family and counsel is vital to due process. Recently a number of detained immigrants have been moved to Mississippi from New Jersey. Access to counsel, family, friends, etc makes it nearly impossible for a detained immigrant to vindicate his/her rights. Abolish ICE? Great, but in the meantime protestors should recognize what could happen if immigrants are moved out of the New York City area.

I am an Essex County resident and taxpayer, and I am appalled that my county executive thinks that detaining immigrants seeking a better life in exchange for federal money is an acceptable way to pay for our budget. When I take my daughter to the zoo or the nearby county park, I now have to wonder if the baby swings were funded by human suffering. We should not be part of a system that destroys families to fund local family amusements.

Deport them and others who are illegally in the country as soon as they are identified.

The protesters, who actually also protest against and call for disobedience of the laws of their own country as they vehemently defend those who committed a crime, do not say what to do with the detainees? Let them free, what else? Whoever comes to this country, regardless of the manner in which he or she or their children entered, should be able to roam free, is that it? It's a dire situation but the protest is abominable.

What about a grass-roots program where concerned people can "adopt" an immigrant family (or individuals) pending a resolution of their legal status?

Joe D is about 1 thing and 1 thing only. Power. Every pol in Essex county has to bend the knee and in this case it means pretending that this doesn’t exist on their doorstep. Good for Gill to be standing up for what is right. These people are not criminals, they are sadly being treated as such. A dentention center is not the same as a jail or prison. Would that Booker had enough stones to confront Joe D over this and force improvements at least in the conditions there.

Liberals love to scream, "Let them in" ... then whisper, "As long as they don't live near me."

The immigrants in this facility are referred to as inmates. Being in this country without documentation is a civil, not a criminal offense. Please refer to these people as detainees. Inmates have criminal offenses.

If the County executive would stop spending money to develop South Mountain Reservation, maybe property taxes could actually support the county.

These people were caught living in the United States without authorization. As this paper delineated in the article “How ICE Picks Its Targets in the Surveillance Age”, it may require the use of multiple expensive resources and weeks of work to locate and nab just one unauthorized migrant who is hiding in plain sight. Articles in other media have frequently described unauthorized migrants who had been allowed out of detention, after agreeing to wear an ankle bracelet, and then, once out of detention, have cut their bracelets off. It is easy for an unauthorized migrant to blend into the general population - especially where there are many immigrants. Thus, once an unauthorized migrant has been caught, he must be either deported, or if he wants to appeal his deportation order, he must be detained. We could change the appeal process, such that the migrant could be deported to their home country and appeal from there. Most unauthorized migrants are from Mexico so we could make it such that they could appeal from the Mexican border or from any U.S. embassy in Mexico. If the unauthorized migrant is from Central America, Mexico would give him a temporary work permit while he awaited his immigration hearing. Those unauthorized migrants who want to appeal their deportation orders from the U.S. should agree to dust, cook, wash, and perform other chores at a detention center in exchange for their being allowed to remain here while their appeals are pending.

These persons made their own decision to break into this country illegally and live outside the law.In order to determine if they are criminals or if they are in deportation proceedings they need to be detained by the authorities and law enforcement officials . There is no country on earth including here where individuals are allowed to enter illegally and /or beak the law in any way.They made that decision on their own to take advantage of another country and it's laws ,unfortunately they must endure the consequences the same as any American would ,here or in a foreign nation.

If you run a jail for profit, it would seem obvious that you want to minimize costs. That would be true for private jails as well county jails. Migrants have committed a crime - entering the country illegally, but this is not the same as robbery, assault or murder. They came seeking a better life, and if the government sees a need to hold them, county jails are not the place. After all, the county is doing this to make money, and whatever it can save on food, maintenance of facilities and providing comfort and amenities for the prisoners helps the bottom line.