| Federal officers arrested Newark, New Jersey, Mayor Ras Baraka at an immigration detention center in his city on Friday for alleged trespassing, before releasing him later that evening. Baraka has been vehemently opposed to the opening of Delaney Hall, a new 1,000-bed US Immigration and Customs Enforcement detention center in Newark. The city has sued GEO, the prison company operating the detention center, arguing that it does not have the proper permits to open. Both the company and the US Department of Homeland Security have argued that the building is up to code, and Delaney Hall is currently detaining people. But many other local officials have embraced private immigration detention centers as vital to their economic well-being. In a new Businessweek investigation, we profile one such “ICE town”: Estancia, New Mexico, where the Torrance County Commission has continued to extend its contract with ICE to detain immigrants at a privately run facility, despite warnings from detainees, immigration lawyers and advocates that conditions are inhumane. As Rachel Adams-Heard, Polly Mosendz and I write in our story, Trump needs these towns if he is going to fulfill his promise of mass deportations, “and he needs local officials who are willing — and sometimes eager — to sign deals that keep private detention facilities open no matter the conditions inside.” Today on CityLab: Addicted to ICE — Fola Akinnibi |
