July 10, 2020
John Tsoukaris Field Office Director Newark Field Office Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) 970 Broad St. 11th Floor Newark, NJ, 07102 [email protected]
Re: Elizabeth Detention Center
Dear Director Tsoukaris,
Three months have passed since more than 43 New Jersey-based immigrant rights advocates, religious organizations, service providers and concerned community groups wrote to your office demanding the release of immigrants held in ICE custody in the State of New Jersey and the suspension of all immigration enforcement activity, including arrests, transfers and deportations. In that time, your office has continued this activity and more than 45 people who have been confined by or work for ICE in New Jersey facilities have contracted COVID-19; 1 several county personnel and a CoreCivic employee in these New Jersey facilities have died. Hundreds of people remain in your custody, at risk of contracting and dying from COVID-19. 2 We renew the demand for immediate action as outlined in the May 20, 2020 letter.
We also add several demands specific to Elizabeth Detention Center (EDC). As you know, EDC is run by CoreCivic, a private prison corporation, which has resisted community members’ requests for greater access to information about the conditions affecting their loved ones in EDC. Legal advocates have had to go so far as to file a class action lawsuit before the 3 Warden of the facility would address CoreCivic’s efforts in response to the pandemic.
The information we have learned about these dangerous conditions has been deeply disturbing. CoreCivic did not allow their staff to wear masks until April 15, 2020, a month and a half after COVID-19 was declared a global pandemic and nearly two weeks after the Centers for Disease Control issued a specific recommendation on masks in congregate facilities. The layout
1 This is the number of “confirmed” cases, which undercount the spread of the disease because several NJ facilities do not engage in universal testing. See ICE Guidance on COVID-19, https://www.ice.gov/coronavirus (last visited June 26, 2020). Deaths of county and CoreCivic personnel in NJ have been reported in the media. See John Heinis, th County Jail COVID-19 Update: 4 Worker Dies, 26 in Custody Test Positive, 87 COs Self-Isolating, Hudson County View (Apr. 7, 2020), https://hudsoncountyview.com/county-jail-covid-19-update-4th-worker-dies-26-in- custody- tested-positive-87-cos-self-isolating/; Joe Atmonavage, Attorneys demand release of all ICE detainees from N.J. facility where guard died of coronavirus, NJ.com (May 18, 2020), https://www.nj.com/coronavirus/2020/05/attorneys-demand-release-of-all-ice-detainees-from-nj-facility-where- guard-died-of-coronavirus.html. 2 See Letter to Director Tsoukaris from New Jersey-based immigrant rights advocates, religious organizations, service providers and concerned community groups regarding COVID-19 (March 20, 2020), https://www.afsc.org/ sites/default/files/documents/letter%20to%20ICE%20-%20Newark%20final3-20-2020.pdf.
3 Aganan, et al. v. Rodriguez, et al., No. 2:20-cv-05922-ES (D.N.J., filed May 15, 2020). of the dorms has prevented people from socially distancing themselves, particularly during meal times. For weeks at a time, people were deprived of cleaning crews, leaving the communal bathrooms filthy. Some people who led hunger strikes to protest these conditions were disciplined. No one was given notice or an opportunity to be heard as part of a custody review process that EDC apparently conducted based on 22 names provided to them by medical personnel at the facility in March 2020. At least 80 people remain in EDC today—many of whom also have serious health conditions—with no justification provided to them.
That it has taken so long for these facts to come to light is a direct result of the lack of transparency and accountability at EDC. In light of these challenges, we demand that your office immediately restore access in EDC to the free detainee hotline operated by First Friends of New Jersey and New York (“First Friends”). As you know, First Friends originally grew out of efforts begun by faith communities in 1997 to provide pastoral care and social services to individuals confined at EDC. It eventually became a nonprofit organization and expanded to serve all jails and prisons holding immigrants in New Jersey. For more than eight years, First Friends has maintained a hotline through which all people in immigration detention can call and speak to a First Friends employee or volunteer, free of charge. Until February 2020, the First Friends hotline routinely received about 40-50 calls a week from EDC detainees. However, in early February 2020, the hotline was shut down at EDC without explanation. First Friends has contacted both ICE and CoreCivic numerous times to inquire about the shut down and to request that the hotline be reopened for EDC detainees, but they have received no response from either ICE or CoreCivic. This is unacceptable and we demand that ICE and CoreCivic immediately restore the First Friends hotline.
We also demand accountability for your abrupt deportation of Héctor García Mendoza, a Freehold resident and beloved friend who was one of the original named plaintiffs in the class action lawsuit seeking the release of people at EDC. Your office deported Mr. Garcia Mendoza two business days after he sued ICE, and the same day he was prescheduled to speak with new immigration counsel to prepare his motion to reopen his case to seek asylum, withholding, and Convention Against Torture relief. Because of your actions—which took place after a federal court issued a judicial stay of removal—he was never able to complete that process with his attorney and his location remains unknown to this day. We demand that you locate Mr. Garcia Mendoza and bring him home to Freehold, and that you answer the inquiry submitted to you by 18 members of Congress, including New Jersey Congressman Albio Sires (NJ-08), Congressman Frank Pallone (NJ-06), Congressman Bill Pascrell, Jr. (NJ-09), Congressman 4 Donald M. Payne, Jr. (NJ-10), and Congresswoman Bonnie Watson-Coleman (NJ-12).
Your urgent action is necessary to prevent additional harm to our community members.
Sincerely,
ACLU-NJ American Friends Service Committee American Immigration Lawyers Association (AILA), NJ Chapter Archdiocese of Newark (in addition to Cardinal Joseph Tobin and Fr. Timothy Graff in their individual capacities) Beacon Unitarian Universalist Congregation Bergen County Green Party Bergen County Immigration Strategy Group Casa Esperanza Center for Latin American Studies, Rutgers University Central Jersey Coalition Against Endless War Centro Comunitario CEUS Close the Camps New Jersey Consortium for Immigrant Children Department of Latinx & Caribbean Studies, Rutgers University Emmaus Community of Christian Hope Ethical Thought Board Faith in New Jersey First Friends of New Jersey & New York Grupo Cajola Haiti Solidarity Network NE Immigrant Defense Project Indivisible NJ 5 Jews Against ICE New Jersey Latin American Legal Defense and Education Fund Latino Action Network Legal Services of New Jersey Make the Road NJ Monmouth Center for World Religions Never Again Action New Jersey New Jersey Alliance for Immigrant Justice New Jersey Forum for Human Rights New Sanctuary Coalition Occupy Bergen County Pax Christi NJ Seafarers International House Seton Hall University School of Law, Immigrant Rights Clinic SEIU 32BJ Sojourners DetentionVisitation/Riverside Unitarian Universalist FaithAction Volunteer Lawyers for Justice Wind of the Spirit
4 Letter Demanding Answers on ICE’s Deportation of Héctor García Mendoza (May 22, 2020), https://sires.house.gov/sites/sires.house.gov/files/documents/Garcia%20Mendoza%20ICE%20Final.pdf cc: • Matthew Albence, Acting Director, DHS/ICE Washington DC • Governor Phil Murphy • Senator Robert Menendez • Senator Cory Booker • Congressman Albio Sires • Congressman Joaquin Castro • Congressman Frank Pallone • Congressman Jerrold Nadler • Congresswoman Bonnie Watson Coleman • Congressman James P. McGovern • Congressman Juan Vargas • Congressman Donald M. Payne, Jr. • Congressman Jesús G. “Chuy” García • Congressman Mark Pocan • Congresswoman Nydia M. Velázquez • Congressman J. Luis Correa • Congressman Raúl M. Grijalva • Congressman Bill Pascrell, Jr. • Congressman Adriano Espaillat • Congresswoman Barbara Lee • Congresswoman Grace F. Napolitano • Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez • House Homeland Security Committee • Homeland Security Advisory Council (HSAC) • Assistant Field Office Director Michael Anderson (Essex) • Assistant Field Office Director Jose Simao (Elizabeth)