Trenton could be site of new ICE detention facility

Federal immigration authorities have been seeking to expand immigrant detention facilities in New Jersey and are considering opening a new detention center in Trenton, documents show.

The discovery comes as President-elect Donald Trump continues to pledge the largest mass deportation and detention program in the nation’s history.

Currently, the Elizabeth Detention Center, a 300-bed facility owned and operated by CoreCivic Inc., is the state’s only immigrant detention center. The majority of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) detainees in the country are housed in facilities operated by private contractors like the one in Elizabeth.

On Friday, the ACLU released 222 pages of documents obtained through a Freedom of Information Act request and lawsuit that reveal that ICE plans to add an outdoor recreation area to the Elizabeth Detention Center and open a new detention center at the former Albert M. “Bo” Robinson Treatment Center in Trenton. The documents feature environmental assessments for each site.

The ACLU obtained the documents after seeking records related to a contract solicitation for additional ICE detention space in the Newark area. The solicitation, issued June 26, sought “comprehensive detention services for adult male and female noncitizens” to provide general population, intake, segregated housing, and medical beds at contractor-owned and contractor-operated facilities.

The former Bo Robinson Treatment Center is a 1,046-bed facility that held state prisoners until 2022. A 2012 investigation by The New York Times uncovered sexual assaults, robberies and other abuses at the facility, which was operated by the GEO Group. The GEO Group has proposed to operate the new detention center in Trenton at Bo Robinson.

ICE plans to house 600 male and female immigrants at the facility.

Built in 1963, Bo Robinson includes 115,000 square feet of floor space across three attached buildings. The facility, located at 375-377 Enterprise Ave., sits on a 4.34-acre property east of U.S. Route 1.

“To accommodate the number of individuals under its jurisdiction, ICE is considering awarding a contract for comprehensive detention services to house and manage a population of detained male and female noncitizens,” according to the documents. “The ARC would provide the services required by ICE to safely house and manage detained noncitizens in compliance with applicable detention codes, standards, and licenses while they await legal proceedings and processing.”

The facility would employ 225 to 250 workers and generate up to $32 million annually in wages, salaries, and expenditures, according to the documents.

No new construction or exterior alterations are proposed, and the detention facility complies with existing zoning regulations, according to the documents. The report also claims the detention center aligns with Trenton and Mercer County employment and economic goals.

“Resuming operation of the ARC is important to achieving the social and economic development goals of the city and county,” reads the environmental assessment. “The ARC was constructed in 1963, with additions in 2004 and 2008, and operated effectively as a prison housing state inmates until it was vacated in 2022. It is expected that resuming operation of the ARC to house detained noncitizens under ICE jurisdiction will also be effective.”

With the addition of the Trenton facility, along with the GEO Group’s previously announced effort to reopen the Delaney Hall detention center in Newark to house 600 immigrants, ICE’s detention capacity in New Jersey would grow by 1,200 beds.

The ACLU of New Jersey has criticized the Biden administration for its plans to expand detention facilities.

“Instead of closing abusive detention facilities once and for all, the Biden administration is simply paving the way for the incoming Trump administration to conduct mass detention and deportation of immigrant communities nationwide,” said Eunice Cho, a senior staff attorney at the ACLU’s National Prison Project. “The Biden administration must instead work to close these facilities now.”

A 2021 state law banning immigrant detention centers in New Jersey remains in legal limbo after CoreCivic and the GEO Group sued to block it. A federal judge partially struck down the law last year as unconstitutional, and the state has appealed.

A 2018 order issued by former New Jersey Attorney General Gurbir Grewal called the Immigrant Trust Directive, limits local police from sharing information with ICE. The directive has been challenged at least twice and upheld both times.

The ACLU has been urging the New Jersey Legislature to pass the Immigrant Trust Act, which would expand protections under the directive by adding data privacy policies at state and local agencies. The law would prevent agencies from inquiring about immigration status when irrelevant to their work and require protections for any collected information.

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