Latest news with #RasBaraka
Forbes
a day ago
- Politics
- Forbes
Court: New Jersey Can't Ban Private Prisons From Detaining Immigrants
A federal appeals court on Tuesday struck down a New Jersey law that banned detaining immigrants in for-profit facilities. The ruling by the U.S. Third Circuit Court of Appeals hands a major victory to private prison firm CoreCivic, which has run an immigration detention center in Elizabeth, New Jersey since 1996. Given its close proximity to Newark Liberty International Airport, the center has played a pivotal role in housing immigrants awaiting deportation, and has held more than 2,000 immigration detainees in recent years. Although the federal government could directly own and operate its own immigration detention centers, it has instead largely outsourced that function to private companies like CoreCivic. According to an analysis by Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse, as of January 2025, '86 percent of ICE detainees were held in facilities run by for-profit entities.' However, many of those detained in private prisons have never been convicted of a crime. A report by the New Jersey Globe found that 77% of the detainees at the Elizabeth Detention Center were designated as 'non-criminal.' Nationwide, 84% of ICE detainees lacked a criminal record and were classified as having 'no ICE threat level,' according to data obtained by the Associated Press. NEWARK, NEW JERSEY, UNITED STATES - MAY 6: Protesters demonstrated against immigration and customs ... More enforcement outside as Mayor Ras J. Baraka, City officials, including leadership and personnel from the Departments of Engineering, Law, Health and Community Wellness, Fire Division and Office of Uniform Construction Code (UCC) held a press conference in Newark, New Jersey, United States on Tuesday, May 6, 2025. The City of Newark says that they have evidence of women and possibly children being detained at the facility. (Photo by Kyle Mazza/Anadolu via Getty Images) Citing a need 'to ensure respect for the human rights and civil rights of all people detained within New Jersey,' in 2021, the state legislature passed a law that banned private companies as well as state and local government agencies from entering into, extending, or renewing any agreement to 'house or detain individuals for civil immigration violations.' CoreCivic sued, claiming New Jersey's law infringed on the Supremacy Clause, which declares that federal law 'shall be the supreme law of the land.' The company's legal challenge quickly earned the backing of the U.S. Department of Justice, first under the Biden Administration and continuing under the second Trump Administration. Closing the 'mission critical' Elizabeth Detention Center, the federal government warned, would 'cripple [ICE's] law-enforcement operations in New Jersey and the surrounding region.' In 2023, a federal district court sided with CoreCivic, a ruling that was upheld on Tuesday by the Third Circuit. Writing for a 2-1 majority, Judge Stephanos Bibas asserted that New Jersey's law 'interferes with the federal government's core power to enforce immigration laws.' 'Only the federal government has the power to decide whether, how, and why to hold aliens for violating immigration law,' Bibas added. 'It alone has the power to make these contracts in the first place.' Judge Thomas Ambro dissented. Although he shared 'the majority's discomfort with allowing New Jersey to affect federal immigration detention,' the court's ruling nevertheless 'undermines bedrock federalism and separation-of-powers principles.' CoreCivic spokesman Ryan Gustin said the company was 'grateful' for the Third Circuit's decision. He further stated that 'CoreCivic does not enforce immigration laws, arrest anyone who may be in violation of immigration laws, or have any say whatsoever in an individual's deportation or release. CoreCivic also does not know the circumstances of individuals when they are placed in our facilities. Our responsibility is to care for each person respectfully and humanely while they receive the legal due process that they are entitled to.' 'What New Jersey achieved through the democratic process has now been undone by judicial fiat to the corporations whose mission is not to serve the United States Constitution, but to deliver profits for their shareholders,' said New Jersey Alliance for Immigrant Justice Executive Director Amy Torres. The Alliance filed an amicus brief for the case, alongside the ACLU of New Jersey and more than two dozen community organizations. The Third Circuit's ruling widens a split among federal appellate courts. In 2022, the Ninth Circuit struck down a California law that similarly banned 'privately owned and operated detention facilities.' 'To comply with California law,' Judge Jacqueline Nguyen wrote for the Ninth Circuit en banc majority, 'ICE would have to cease its ongoing immigration detention operations in California and adopt an entirely new approach.' But that same year, the Seventh Circuit upheld an Illinois law that prohibited state and local agencies from contracting with the federal government to hold immigration detainees in their jails—contracts that generated between $4 to 8 million each year. Since the law built off of an earlier reform that banned private prisons from entering such contracts, the Seventh Circuit's decision effectively ended immigration detention in Illinois. In a statement, New Jersey Attorney General Matthew Platkin was 'disappointed' in the Third Circuit's decision and said the state was considering its next steps. 'As recent events at Delaney Hall underscore, entrusting detention to for-profit companies poses grave risks to health and safety,' Platkin added.
The Hill
a day ago
- Politics
- The Hill
How communities can fight back against ICE's unchecked power
Earlier this month, the House and Senate passed a bill that allocates $170 billion to immigration control and border enforcement, with $29.9 billion approved in additional funding to Immigration and Customs Enforcement. This is the agency that, since January, has been flexing its power by arresting law-abiding immigrants, legal permanent residents, foreigners on temporary visas and even elected officials who are U.S. citizens, like New York City Comptroller Brad Lander, Newark Mayor Ras Baraka and Rep. LaMonica McIver (D-N.J.) in New Jersey. ICE has proven itself to be a law enforcement agency with the ability to violate civil rights, and U.S. citizens and residents should be worried. Truth be told, ICE has operated with impunity since it was established in 2003. For more than seven years, I have been studying what I call 'enforcement episodes,' their long-lasting impacts and the survival stories of young U.S. citizens in New York who have experienced immigration enforcement targeting their parents, family members, neighbors or friends. Young New Yorkers spoke of early morning ICE visits to their childhood homes, agents letting themselves be confused for local police, a detention system that moved parents across states so that families could not visit and relatives disappearing from their lives. They recounted fears when ICE agents periodically appeared on subways and roadways to intimidate citizens and residents indiscriminately. Until now, ICE's unchecked power has gone publicly unacknowledged, unless you looked closely or had been directly affected. This is likely because most U.S. citizens whose rights have been violated were minors. U.S. citizen children have been forcibly separated from parents but have no standing in immigration courts. Fears and anxieties have undermined U.S. citizen children's well-being, while policymakers have turned the other way. In the past, priority directives that shifted across administrations gave adults a sense that guardrails existed and that those targeted had done something wrong and were criminals. ICE could only feasibly carry out large-scale raids in cooperation with other law enforcement agencies, which many community members trusted. Advocates responded by pushing for humanistic views of immigration and for non-cooperation agreements between local agencies and ICE. They advised immigrants to be law-abiding, seek legal counsel and attend appointments and hearings as directed. Meanwhile, the toll enforcement has taken on children has been barely noticed. Today, with an unprecedented expansion of ICE arrests in nearly every state and a three-fold increase to the current budget looming, the advocacy playbook has changed. This makes New Yorkers' survival stories more instructive for moving beyond fear into focused and effective action. Lesson number one: Community members can deescalate enforcement episodes and their aftermath. Those I met suffered most when they directly witnessed episodes such as being present when ICE arrived at their homes or during a traffic stop, or by being drawn into legal proceedings. Episodes are especially traumatic when children translate for parents, attend lawyer's appointments or write letters for waivers of removal. Some of those I met, though, had exceptional support that shielded them. People showed up at traffic stops, offering rides or helping to resolve situations to avoid ICE involvement. This was most common in rural areas with intentionally developed local coalitions between citizens and non-citizens. People also translated for and accompanied family members, in lieu of children. Lesson number two: Community members can offer resources to rebuild. The New Yorkers I met who were most resilient, over time, received aid directly, not through parents. Several, especially in New York City, attended exceptional schools with teachers who simultaneously normalized migration experiences and identified children of immigrants needing interventions. Teachers 'who noticed' — as one young woman described it — connected them to services and mental health counseling. Other young adults participated in clubs or youth groups that provided them with tools to feel empowered, not bewildered, by ICE actions. Because training came before things got personal, these youth launched into action when bad things happened to their families and friends. For 22 years, the U.S. has charged ICE with interior enforcement, with agents now willing to arrest anyone perceived to get in the way. Facing this new expansion of ICE funding and actions, we all have the responsibility to resist and rebuild. To do so we need to: Show up when ICE does, documenting and deescalating when possible. Show up for those in proceedings, ensuring they are not alone. Show up for families, offering mutual aid. Show up for people working with children — teachers, counselors, coaches, doctors and more — training them as first responders to leverage services to children. Show up for children, organizing webs of support through clubs or other activities that they can activate for advocacy efforts. Show up for communities, providing rights training and rejecting silencing about immigration that furthers criminalizing narratives. Around the country, people are taking many of these actions right now. Each of us cannot do everything. But we can show up for each other to heal and to protect the civil rights we all deserve.
CBS News
18-07-2025
- Politics
- CBS News
4th detainee who escaped Newark ICE facility arrested in Los Angeles, FBI says
The last of four detainees who escaped from a United States Immigration and Customs Enforcement facility in Newark, New Jersey, in June has now been caught. Andres Felipe Pineda Mogollon, 25, was arrested in Los Angeles on Thursday, according to the FBI. He and three others had escaped from the Delaney Hall ICE detention center on June 12. ICE told lawmakers the four detainees escaped through a hole in a wall of the facility. Two were taken back into custody within three days of escaping, and the third was captured on June 17. All four have now been captured. Mogollon was arrested previously on charges of petty larceny and residential burglary. Delaney Hall has been a source of controversy in New Jersey for months. Newark Mayor Ras Baraka claims the ICE facility opened without undergoing necessary inspections or acquiring proper permits, which the Department of Homeland Security denies. On May 9, Baraka and members of New Jersey's congressional delegation, including Rep. LaMonica McIver, went to Delaney Hall to conduct federal oversight and ended up clashing with ICE agents outside. The mayor was arrested and charged with trespassing, but the charge was later dropped. McIver was charged with assaulting, impeding and interfering with law enforcement, and has pleaded not guilty. On June 12, detainees told family members they went without food for 20 hours, then were fed only a small amount. They also reported unhygienic conditions inside, while loved ones said visitation hours were inconsistent. DHS has said they provide high quality services.
Daily Mail
08-07-2025
- Politics
- Daily Mail
Democrats accused of urging violence against Trump agenda
Democratic voters are asking their representatives to exhibit more violence while resisting Donald Trump's agenda - with some even suggesting lawmakers prepare to 'get shot.' The party - reeling in the wake of Trump's November victory - heads toward the 2026 midterms with polls showing their own voters are unhappy with their performance. Now, liberal politicians fear Trump haters are urging them to bend the law and even resort to violence in a desperate attempt to resist the president. 'Our own base is telling us that what we're doing is not good needs to be blood to grab the attention of the press and the public,' an anonymous Democrat lawmaker admitted. The voters' solutions: follow Newark Mayor Ras Baraka and New Jersey Rep. LaMonica McIver (pictured), who both put themselves in legal trouble to visit an ICE detention facility. However, another anonymous liberal told Axios that even that wouldn't be enough, with one saying 'civility isn't working' and to man up for 'violence.' 'Some of them have we really need to do is be willing to get shot.' 'The expectations aren't just unreal. They're dangerous,' said one more. While House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (pictured) is being savaged for poorly photoshopped promo pictures and even posting holding a baseball bat, some Dems worry there's nothing they can do to satiate their base, which they say is 'white, well-educated and live in upscale' neighborhoods. 'We've got people who are desperately wanting us to do matter what we say, they want [more],' said Illinois Congressman Brad Schneider, who says he's desperately tried to beat back voters who want yet another impeachment of Trump. One thing they hear consistently is that they want the Democrats to get down and dirty and try to beat what they see as Republicans' own game. 'This idea that we're going to save every norm and that we're not going to play [Republicans'] game...I don't think that's resonating with voters anymore,' another anonymous Congressmember said. Another added that when voters 'who are angry don't accept that. They're angry beyond things,' with yet another comparing how they feel to 'the Roman Coliseum.' Ro Khanna (pictured), a California Congressman who ranks as one of their more outspoken progressives, went against the grain, preaching the need for pragmatism. 'The most effective pushback to Trump's unconstitutional actions is to model a reverence for the Constitution and the rule of law,' he said. The Democrats believe that their voters' attitude will keep Donald Trump in power. Khanna added: 'Not only would that be a gift to Donald Trump, not only would it make the job of Republicans in Congress easier if we were all mired in legal troubles...[we are] a group that is disproportionately people of color, women, LGBTQ people — people who do not fare very well in prison.' Just months ago, approval of the Democratic Party hit a brutal record low as Democrats are split over how to take on President Donald Trump in the first few months of his second term, new polling finds. Among Americans overall, the Democratic Party's favorability rating stands at just 29 percent, CNN found. It's the lowest favorability the party has seen since CNN first started conducting its polling back in 1992. It's also a 20 point drop in approval since Trump left office more than four years ago at which time approval of the Democratic party was 49 percent. It's also a ten point drop from just before the November election. At the same time, a new NBC News poll released Sunday similarly found only 27 percent of voters had a positive view of the Democratic Party. That was the lowest positive rating in NBC News polling history dating back to 1990. The CNN polling released in March was conducted just days before ten Senate Democrats joined with their Republican colleagues in a vote to advance a stopgap spending bill to avoid a government shutdown in a move that has deeply divided the party even further. Some Democrats are now calling for Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (pictured) to step down as a Democratic Party leader while others have said he should be challenged when he's next up for reelection in 2028. The record low approval of the Democratic Party has been driven by increased dissatisfaction from within, the CNN polling found. Just 63 percent of Democrats or Democratic-leaning Independents had a favorable view of their own party, a drop from the 72 who had a favorable view of their party in January and 81 percent when President Biden took office. Democrats are also torn over the direction of their party should take, the polling found. Among Democratic-aligned adults, 52 percent said that the party leadership is taking the party in the wrong direction while 48 percent said they are taking the party in the right direction. At the same time, a growing number of Democrats want the party leadership to do more to stop the Republican agenda as Trump barrels through the first two months of his second term. The polling found 57 percent believe the party should do more to stop the GOP agenda while just 42 percent believe party leadership should work with Republicans. CNN noted that is a dramatic shift from Democrats' views nearly eight years ago. A September 2017 poll from Trump's first term found 74 percent of Democrats believed their party should try to work with Republicans.
Daily Mail
08-07-2025
- Politics
- Daily Mail
Democrats call for violence to counter Trump agenda and tell lawmakers to prepare to 'get shot'
Democrats have begun a full-blown freakout over their voters, who have determined they must be willing to 'get shot' and 'want blood' from their resistance to Donald Trump. The party, completely out of any institutional power in the wake of Trump's resounding win in November, remains directionless has it heads toward the 2026 midterms, with polls showing their approval with their own voters at rock bottom. Now, they're fearful that their voters may have taken their hatred of Trump too far, telling them to potentially bend the law or even resort to violence to resist the president. 'Our own base is telling us that what we're doing is not good needs to be blood to grab the attention of the press and the public,' an anonymous Democrat lawmaker admitted. The voters' solutions: follow Newark Mayor Ras Baraka and New Jersey Congresswoman LaMonica McIver, who both put themselves in legal trouble to visit an ICE detention facility. However, another anonymous liberal told Axios that even that wouldn't be enough, with one saying 'civility isn't working' and to man up for 'violence.' 'Some of them have we really need to do is be willing to get shot.' 'The expectations aren't just unreal. They're dangerous,' said one more. While House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries is being savaged for poorly photoshopped promo pictures and even posting holding a baseball bat, some Dems worry there's nothing they can do to satiate their base, which they say is 'white, well-educated and live in upscale' neighborhoods. 'We've got people who are desperately wanting us to do matter what we say, they want [more],' said Illinois Congressman Brad Schneider, who says he's desperately tried to beat back voters who want yet another impeachment of Trump. One thing they hear consistently is that they want the Democrats to get down and dirty and try to beat what they see as Republicans' own game. 'This idea that we're going to save every norm and that we're not going to play [Republicans'] game...I don't think that's resonating with voters anymore,' another anonymous Congressmember said. Another added that when voters 'who are angry don't accept that. They're angry beyond things,' with yet another comparing how they feel to 'the Roman Coliseum.' Ro Khanna, a California Congressman who ranks as one of their more outspoken progressives, went against the grain, preaching the need for pragmatism. 'The most effective pushback to Trump's unconstitutional actions is to model a reverence for the Constitution and the rule of law,' he said. The Democrats believe that their voters' attitude will keep Donald Trump in power. 'We've got people who are desperately wanting us to do matter what we say, they want [more],' said Illinois Congressman Brad Schneider (pictured), who says he's desperately tried to beat back voters who want yet another impeachment of Trump 'Not only would that be a gift to Donald Trump, not only would it make the job of Republicans in Congress easier if we were all mired in legal troubles...[we are] a group that is disproportionately people of color, women, LGBTQ people — people who do not fare very well in prison.' Just months ago, approval of the Democratic Party hit a brutal record low as Democrats are split over how to take on President Donald Trump in the first few months of his second term, new polling finds. Among Americans overall, the Democratic Party's favorability rating stands at just 29 percent, CNN found. It's the lowest favorability the party has seen since CNN first started conducting its polling back in 1992. It's also a 20 point drop in approval since Trump left office more than four years ago at which time approval of the Democratic party was 49 percent. It's also a ten point drop from just before the November election. At the same time, a new NBC News poll released Sunday similarly found only 27 percent of voters had a positive view of the Democratic Party. That was the lowest positive rating in NBC News polling history dating back to 1990. The CNN polling released in March was conducted just days before ten Senate Democrats joined with their Republican colleagues in a vote to advance a stopgap spending bill to avoid a government shutdown in a move that has deeply divided the party even further. Some Democrats are now calling for Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer to step down as a Democratic Party leader while others have said he should be challenged when he's next up for reelection in 2028. The record low approval of the Democratic Party has been driven by increased dissatisfaction from within, the CNN polling found. Just 63 percent of Democrats or Democratic-leaning Independents had a favorable view of their own party, a drop from the 72 who had a favorable view of their party in January and 81 percent when President Biden took office. Democrats are also torn over the direction of their party should take, the polling found. Among Democratic-aligned adults, 52 percent said that the party leadership is taking the party in the wrong direction while 48 percent said they are taking the party in the right direction. At the same time, a growing number of Democrats want the party leadership to do more to stop the Republican agenda as Trump barrels through the first two months of his second term. The polling found 57 percent believe the party should do more to stop the GOP agenda while just 42 percent believe party leadership should work with Republicans.
