Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) announced on Thursday their plans to reopen an immigration detention facility in Newark this spring, according to ABC 7. The move comes amid the Trump administration’s massive crackdown on illegal immigration which is quickly ramping up its efforts to get illegal immigration under control as soon as possible.
The detention facility set to reopen is Delaney Hall, which is reportedly the largest facility in the region that holds over 1,000 beds. The facility is located near an international airport, making it ideal for facilitating the ‘“timely processing” of individuals in custody of ICE, according to acting ICE Director Caleb Vitello.
The plan is receiving pushback from some locals including Newark Mayor Ras Baraka who said that ICE cannot “lawfully open ‘without satisfying city property-use requirements, inspections, and permits,’ and says an immigration detention center is ‘not welcomed here,’” according to ABC 7.
The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) also pushed back against the measure, hitting President Trump with name-calling while expressing their disapproval of the crackdown on illegal immigration. ABC 7 reports the ACLU released a statement that said in part, “This massive increase in detention capacity places the public in further danger of the Trump administration’s unconstitutional, racist, and xenophobic mass detention and deportation agenda.”
The announcement of the reopening of the detention facility comes after ICE made arrests in the Newark area. A few weeks ago, the head of the Newark ICE Enforcement and Removal field office, Director John Tsoukaris, sat down with ABC 7 in an exclusive interview describing what leads up to an arrest and what happens afterward.
In the interview, Tsoukaris said that the arrests are not done at random, explaining that “every time we target someone, we’re not just looking for anyone. We’re targeting individuals that we know where they are.”
Tsoukaris explained that the arrests made were targeted after extensive investigations and case work on the individuals. “We’ve done a lot of investigation and case work ahead of time and surveillance or other law enforcement reviews of the case,” he said.
Out of the 7.8 million cases going through immigration court, one and half million of them are “orders of removal” in which individuals were “told to depart and have not departed.” Some who have been arrested have previously been deported and returned, Tsoukaris noted.
According to ABC 7,” ICE says it maintains the highest standards when taking people into custody.”
Tsoukaris supported ICE’s assertion noting that “there’s a lot of oversight in terms of our legal department and our policies and procedures and our supervisors to ensure no one’s rights are violated.”
