Resist the Deportation Machine - A Coalition of NJ Social Justice & Immigrant Rights Groups Working to End Immigration Detention and All Cooperation with ICE in NJ
Dear Governor Murphy,
We, the undersigned activist and social justice groups, are calling on you to exercise your emergency power to immediately release all people held pursuant to intergovernmental service agreements with ICE in the county jails and all those held at the Elizabeth Detention Center. We stand in solidarity with, ACLU-NJ, American Friends Service Committee- Newark People’s Organization for Progress, and other criminal justice advocates that have already called for the immediate release of as many inmates in New Jersey’s penal facilities as possible. We call on you to release on parole all non-violent prisoners, all elderly or sick prisoners and all prisoners nearing their release.
We call on you to act swiftly in the interest of public health and safety, not only for those in the jails and the detention center, but also for the public at large. In order to control the spread of the virus, it is imperative that these people be released and not simply transferred to another detention facility hundreds of miles away.
The threat of a coronavirus outbreak in New Jersey’s jails and the Elizabeth Detention Center is imminent. People locked up in immigration detention are extremely vulnerable to the spread of infectious disease due to their deprivation of liberty, deteriorating health while in detention, physical proximity to others who may be infected, and the track record of inadequate medical care in Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s (ICE) and Customs and Border Protection’s (CBP) custody. Over three thousand medical professional demanded on March 19 that ICE release the detainees now. Doctors employed by DHS itself have warned of “tinderbox” spread unless the detainees are released.
Jails and detention centers are not sealed environments. They require significant outside staffing in rotating shifts. The concentration of people, plus the rotation of people from different parts of the community through these facilities, makes them much more vulnerable. In addition, what happens within the jail is sure to spread to the local community.
The coronavirus will take the path of least resistance to spread. It is your duty to protect the entire community by clearing the jails of all those who can be released without endangering public safety. We urge you to fulfill this duty immediately.
Urgently,
Bergen College Socialists
Bergen County Immigration Strategy Group
Central Jersey Coalition Against Endless War
Close The Camps NJ
Cosecha NJ
Decarcerate the Garden State
Elizabeth NJ Catholic Worker
Freedom Socialist Party
Green Party of Monmouth County NJ
Green Party of New Jersey
Haiti Solidarity Network of the Northeast
Haitian Bridge Alliance
Hoffman for Senate 2020
Hudson For All
ICE Free NJ
Indivisible NJ5
Jews Against ICE New Jersey
Jobs and Equal Rights for All
Lazos America Unida
Never Again Action New Jersey
Never Again Newark
New Jersey Jewish Coalition for Refugees
New Jersey Peace Action
New Jersey Progressive Democrats of Union County
Nichelle Velazquez, 2019 Jobs and Equal Rights for All Candidate for the NJ State Assembly, 29th Legislative District
NJ Anti-War Agenda
NJ State Industrial Union Council
NJ Unitarian Universalist Faith Action
North Jersey DSA Immigrant Justice Working Group
Occupy Bergen County
Office of Peace, Justice, and Ecological Integrity, Sisters of Charity of Saint Elizabeth
Our Revolution Passaic County
Party for Socialism and Liberation
Pax Christi NJ
Radical Women
Reformed Church of Highland Park
Resist the Deportation Machine
St. Peter's University Social Justice Program
Students For Justice Maplewood/South Orange
Sunrise Movement Morris County
The Students for Justice Club at Columbia High School
Unidad Latina en Accion
Welcome Home Jersey City
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