An organization representing black Americans is throwing its support behind the reopening of a massive migrant detention facility in Newark, New Jersey. Meanwhile, Democrats are using the courts to try to get the facility shut down.
A letter from Sherman Lea with the National Association of Blacks in Criminal Justice, exclusively reviewed by Breitbart News, urges Newark Mayor Ras Baraka (D) to drop his opposition to the reopening of Delaney Hall — a facility that will be able to hold up to 1,000 criminal illegal aliens for the Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE).
“As the President of the National Association of Blacks in Criminal Justice, I am writing to express our support and highlight the critical impact of the redevelopment project at Delaney Hall,” Lea writes to Baraka, who is running as a far-left Democrat in the crowded New Jersey governor’s race:
This initiative represents a significant opportunity not only for economic growth but also for advancing the careers of Black professionals within the criminal justice system. [Emphasis added]
Delaney Hall is set to provide substantial economic benefits, nearly $50 million, to New Jersey, with $40 million allocated directly towards wages and salaries. This is not just a financial boon but a pivotal moment for employment equity. The facility will offer approximately 300 union-backed, well-paying jobs to local residents, making a profound difference in a state where economic concerns and the cost of living are increasingly burdensome for many. [Emphasis added]
In particular, Lea writes that the reopening of Delaney Hall has the “potential to serve as a critical career stepping stone for Black individuals” while supporting local businesses and ensuring infrastructure improvements in Newark.
Lea’s letter comes as the city of Newark, with Baraka’s backing, is suing ICE to get Delaney Hall shut down for good, claiming the agency has not followed “building safety protocols.”
“The agreement between ICE and the GEO Group to use Delaney Hall with the intention of incarcerating and holding immigrants slated for deportation does not supersede the ordinances and procedures legislated by the City of Newark and the State of New Jersey,” Baraka wrote in a statement late last month:
As I have stated in the past, without compliance with requirements, Delaney Hall cannot lawfully open. We will not tolerate federal attempts to ignore or evade our laws and statutes, which apply to everyone. [Emphasis added]
In a hearing this week, National Immigration Center for Enforcement (NICE) President RJ Hauman called out Baraka for his opposition to the detention center.
“Sanctuary jurisdictions are beyond simply complying with detainer requests, you have … Newark, New Jersey, you have a Mayor Ras Baraka who is refusing to even allow a detention facility of 1,000 beds to open,” Hauman said.
“They not only don’t want to comply with detainers, they don’t want to detain,” Hauman said.
President Donald Trump’s administration is looking to hugely increase the nation’s immigration detention capacity. ICE currently only has about 45,000 available beds to hold illegal aliens, but the Trump administration will need tens of thousands, potentially hundreds of thousands, more beds to carry out its mass deportation efforts.
In addition to more detention space, the Trump administration may seek out a plan introduced in Congress last year that would require the federal government to not only use all available detention space for illegal aliens, but also require that illegal aliens be placed on GPS monitoring when such detention space is at capacity.
Today, ICE’s some eight million illegal aliens are on the agency’s non-detained docket — that is, they are known to the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) but living freely throughout the United States without being detained. Only a tiny fraction of those on ICE’s non-detained docket are being tracked through GPS monitoring.
John Binder is a reporter for Breitbart News. Email him at [email protected]. Follow him on Twitter here.
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