500 signatures reached
To: Essex County Board of Chosen Freeholders
No ICE in Essex County!
The Board of Freeholders will be voting on a resolution to release immigrant detainees from Essex County Correctional Facility (ECCF) on June 10th. Since the county oversees the ECCF's contract with Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), the Board of Freeholders must speak out against this injustice. For decades, our immigrant communities and allied activists have been demanding that our Freeholders end ICE detention in Essex, and for decades we've been ignored. Finally, a resolution will be brought to the agenda on June 10th, and we need every Freeholder to vote YES on releasing all people in ICE detention at ECCF.
Why is this important?
Countless families have been torn apart by ICE. Our country cannot continue to separate families, warehouse people, and perpetuate nationalist violence. Immigration detention is always immoral, unnecessary, and unjust. But with COVID-19, it is also deadly.
After multiple deaths of inmates, nurses, and corrections officers since the pandemic started, New Jersey's jails and detention centers are obviously at extreme risk of spreading COVID-19 and infecting those inside. Social distancing is not substantially possible there. Reports indicate that supplies like soap and quality food are sometimes inaccessible. These are incredibly dangerous places.
Justice means removing the most violent and dangerous law enforcement operations from our communities, and we need to start right here in Essex County. Tell Essex County Board of Freeholders to vote YES on a resolution that releases every person detained by ICE in ECCF.