The Human Stories Behind the Immigration Detention Contract in Essex County

Since Essex County signed its contract with ICE to expand immigration detention to 1250 people this past fall, Essex County has been in the news. Not just for the shady back doors deals and political contributions from the private for-profit company that received the immigration detention subcontract but also for the suffering that this contract is causing to local residents and their families.

In October, there was the story of Neida Lavayen whose fiance was taken into custody one week before their wedding and held at Delaney Hall until he was deported to Ecuador.

In November, there was the story of Michell and Yasser Valle who migrated to the US legally with their mother when they were in kindergarten and first grade, and although they were eligible for relief under ICE's new policy of prosecutorial discrection it looked as if they would be spending Thanksgiving in Delaney Hall.


In December, there was the story of Atanas Entchev who was invited to the US over 20 years ago as a visiting scholar and brought his 2 year old son, Enislav with him. Though both Atanas and Enislave were also eligible for relief under the policy of prosecutorial discretion they were taken into custody and held in Delaney Hall for 65 days.

Just before Christmas we learned of the story of Jose Pereira, the father of 2 US citizen children and the spouse of a US citizen who was incarcerated in the Essex County Jail awaiting deportation.

Just before New Year's the story of Charley Chehoud appeared in the press. Charley is currently being held in solitary confinement in the Essex County Jail despite entering the US legally 30 years ago and recently cooperating with police to solve several crimes including a murder.

These are just the stories that made it into the mainstream media. Each and every one of the people being held in immigration detention has his or her own story. Immigrants in detention include the parents and spouses of US citizens, asylum seekers and torture survivors. They include students, business owners, and community leaders. They include long time residents, legal permanent residents, and sometimes even US citizens who are wrongfully imprisoned.

Essex County is netting less than $20 per detainee per day. It is using this revenue as to justify participating in an inhumane system. The County refuses to recognize the immorality of incarcerating people for profit.

If you can, please join us on Wednesday February 22nd in our latest protest against the inhumane immigration detention system and the expansion in Essex County and NJ. We will be starting in Jersey City with a 12 with a mile walk to the Elizabeth Detention Center that includes stops at the Essex County Jail, the ICE Field Office and several houses of worship.

We will close the day with a vigil and prayer service at the Elizabeth Detention Center at 6 pm

Whether or not you can attend, please do not forget to sign the petition to tell the Essex County Freeholders to get out of the business of immigration detention because profiting from other people's misery is not a business that Essex County should be in.

Stop Understanding, Start Feeling

As I sat down to write this blog post, about our upcoming protest on December 7th in Newark over the for-profit immigration detention contract, I was tempted to lead with statistics about the percentage of foreign born residents in Essex County. Then I remembered a quote from a book on racial justice by Father Bryan Massingale. "We act justly not because we are intellectually convinced, but because we are passionately moved. Compassion moves the will to justice."

As a movement and as individual activists, there is a tendency toward providing facts, data and statistics that support just immigration policy. There is the belief that if only we could effectively combat the tremendous body of misinformation we would prevail. The problem is that one of the primary tactics of the campaign against immigration reform is an attempt to dehumanize an entire group of people.

However, it becomes obvious, that what is fueling the anti-immigrant movement is anything but rational. The statistics are simply a justification for a deep seated fear of people who are in some way different. It is a deep seated fear that these new people will upset the social order.

I am often asked why I am an advocate for immigration reform. After all, being an advocate for social change of any kind does not win a person any popularity contests, particularly not in New Jersey’s suburbs. I can only describe it as a conversion after encounters with people who were suffering under the injustice of our immigration system. These were moments where, as Catholic and a Christian, I recognized the face of Jesus in the suffering of the people before me and I felt their pain in a deep and profound way. At these times I was able to see that it was merely by luck of my birth and circumstances that I was spared their suffering.

Perhaps that is why I am transfixed by this video. I do not understand the words that Frank uses to describe the plight of immigrants in detention or the injustice of the system that imprisons them for-profit… I feel them.



We need to stop pinning our hopes for change to an intellectual exercise where we ascribe economic value to the lives of people who are immigrants. By doing so, we only contribute to their dehumanization. We need to talk about immigrants as people with innate value as human beings. We need to elevate their lives and their stories, flawed and imperfect though they may be.

Until we have the courage to stridently proclaim, not that some are deserving because they can contribute, but that all are entitled to the basic necessities of life because they are human, we will not prevail.

I hope you will watch Frank’s video as I have, over and over, and share it with your friends. I believe with all my heart and I feel in my soul that the very passion and the power of the emotion that he expresses is our path forward as a movement.

We must stop trying to understand and open our hearts. We must start feeling the pain of our brothers and sisters who are immigrants. Our compassion for their suffering is what will motivate us to act in solidarity for justice.

If you can, please join us in Newark on December 7th, beginning at 4:00 pm in Military Park and later at 7:00 pm at the Essex County Freeholders meeting. If not please sign the petition to revoke the ICE contract in Newark and start putting people before profit.

Stop Incarcerating People for Profit - Occupy the Essex County Freeholders

Immigrants are being incarcerated for profit in Essex County thanks to the help of the Essex County Executive and the Board of Chosen Freeholders who have decided to sell the liberty of 1250 people to ICE for $108/person/day.

Join us December 7 beginning at 4:00 pm with a rally & press conference in Military Park and then march with us to the Hall of Records to Occupy the Freeholders at their meeting at 7:00 pm. We will be presenting them with thousands of signatures on a petition to revoke the ICE contract and tell them to STOP INCARCERATING PEOPLE FOR PROFIT!

For years, Essex County has been partnering with the private for-profit company Community Education Centers (CEC) to negotiate a contract with ICE to detain 1250 people in the Essex County Jail and the neighboring privately run Delaney Hall. The agreement between ICE & Essex County was signed and approved earlier this fall.

After Essex County secretly negotiated with ICE, making representations to ICE that CEC would be the subcontractor, Essex County put the sub-contract up for public bid. Surprise, surprise CEC was the only bidder in two separate rounds of RFP's.

It just so happens that CEC has donated hundreds of thousands of dollars to the campaigns of Essex County politicians.

It just so happens that one of CEC's primary lobbyists was Chris Christie.

It just sot happens that Bill Palatucci, Chris Christie's close friend and political confidant, is currently a Sr. VP for CEC.

As we know, the system is rigged to line the pockets of corporate interests while working class people suffer. This is just one more example.

Wall Street Execs destroy the economy & get a bailout. Immigrants work hard & end up in jail. Immigrants are the 99%.