United in Defiance: Immigrants, Union County Residents, Labor, Faith, and Community Organizations Respond to Union County Vote to Solicit Bids on County Jail

(ELIZABETH, NJ 3/28/25) - Last night, nearly three hundred people demanded the County not allow ICE or private prison corporations into our community. The vote could open the long-shuttered facility for sale to a private prison company and help accelerate Trump’s deportation agenda. Private prison companies are notorious for operating abusive detention centers across the country, including one already in Union County.

In a 6-3 vote, Union County Commissioners voted to pass a resolution to solicit bids on part of the Union County Jail complex. With Delaney Hall planned to open as a detention center in Newark with 1,000 beds, the resolution opens the possibility of even another facility with 1,000 beds in New Jersey. 

“I worry all the time what would happen if I was separated from my children. Another immigration detention center would intensify the fear in our communities, fuel anti-immigrant sentiment, and hurt local businesses. The County Commissioners must do the right thing – reject any proposal from private prison companies and invest in what makes our communities strong,” said Maura, Make the Road New Jersey member and Rahway resident, on behalf of the organization’s 6,000 members. 

“Union County Commissioners are playing Pollyanna in the face of rising attacks against immigrants. It is intentionally naive to think anyone but private prison corporations would be interested in this site. Despite hours of testimony and sometimes tears, Commissioners showed their true allegiances last night: despite unanimous outcry, they will prioritize profit over the people they represent,” said Amy Torres, Executive Director with New Jersey Alliance for Immigrant Justice.

“The Union County Commissioners’ decision to approve the sale of the Union County Jail is a profound betrayal of our community’s trust. By potentially facilitating its use for immigration detention by the federal government or private prison companies, they are complicit in perpetuating a system rife with abuse and inhumanity. This vote, taken despite powerful community testimony detailing the harms of detention, underscores a blatant disregard for the well-being of our neighbors and loved ones. Our swift mobilization, filling the meeting room with less than two days’ notice despite their underhanded tactics, demonstrates our unwavering commitment. Let this be a clear message: we are not going anywhere. If they thought this turnout was significant, they should prepare for the even greater force we’ll bring next time,” said Katy Sastre, Executive Director of First Friends of New Jersey & New York.

“New Jersey has come too far to turn back the clock on immigrant justice,” said Nicole Rodriguez, President of New Jersey Policy Perspective. “After years of community organizing and policy wins that severed county ties with ICE, it would be a profound betrayal for any Democratic-led county to welcome back immigrant detention through the back door. We need clear, enforceable safeguards in the sale of the jail to ensure it cannot be used for immigration detention or profiteering off incarceration.”

"The Union County Commissioners have single-handedly endangered any semblance of democracy in this society. For nearly a decade, this Presidential administration has abducted our neighbors from their homes, places of employment, and our streets on false, racist narratives. And now, for weeks, we see this Presidential administration go beyond those bounds by abducting advocates for Palestinian freedom solely because of their advocacy against Genocide,” said Wassim Kanaan, advocacy coordinator of American Muslims for Palestine in NJ. “As right-wing politicians unleash an assault on the supposed "tyrannical judiciary” and ignore court orders, local governments may be our last line of defense. We demand an immediate course reversal. We demand that the local elected officials invest in the community and people. We demand people over profits.” 

"The 100+ community members, clergy, students, parents, workers and Union County residents from all walks of life who testified for over 2 hours to oppose this unwise and dangerous sale were proof that goodness still prevails among the people of New Jersey. The same cannot yet be said of the 6 people making decisions for them, who voted last night to give ICE an open door to terrorize that same community. Many are saying our leaders aren’t showing bravery in the face of assaults on society and family, but this is a question not of courage, but character: Do these Commissioners have the decency to say no to dollars and yes to the people they serve? We hope the 3 members who voted their principles will continue pressing for a positive alternative to unjust punishment for profit, and that, as this process proceeds, their 6 colleagues will reconnect with their conscience,” said Adam McGovern, Legislative Strategist, Wind of the Spirit Immigrant Resource Center.

“We all left the meeting with heavy hearts. The Union County Commissioners are committed to the possibility of taking bids on the Union County Jail from for profit carceral corporations.  Their commitment to this possibility adds to the terror that our communities are facing due to mass deportations.  Their commitment’s trade off, I suppose, would be increased funds to the county, but whatever gains would be made would be blood money.  The process of reviewing applications for use and or possession of the jail and going with the highest bidder takes on a morbid tone when this process is taken together with the possibility of the highest bidder being a for profit prison or detention center.  That is to say, people would literally be bidding on the ability to turn a profit on the bodies of black and brown people.  This dark imagery haunts US history and, in a sane world, would prohibit even the possibility of opening up a process which eerily resembles slave auctions of old.  As a Christian, as people of faith, as people of conscience, we cannot support elected representatives who represent the will of the people in this way,” said Rev. Pernini, from Faith in New Jersey.

“As an immigrant rights organization that provides rapid response and family support, we’ve witnessed the devastating impact of ICE's racist profiling on the streets, targeting Brown and Black bodies. We sit with families whose fathers, mothers, and aunts are ripped away, forcing them to struggle to pay bills that loved ones once supported, and to manage the mental health of children who can no longer see or hug their parents. We feel sold out by the three individuals who voted to feed into this destructive system—putting profit over the people of New Jersey, rather than ensuring that our state be a place where everyone, regardless of their country of origin, the color of their skin, or what they look like, can be safe, continue to care for their families, and remain the loving community members they are. This decision places profit over people and harms the very fabric of our shared humanity,” said Resistencia En Acción NJ

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New Jersey Alliance for Immigrant Justice (NJAIJ) is the state’s largest immigration coalition. NJAIJ brings together 60+ organizations to fight for policies that empower and protect immigrants.