A federal appeals court has blocked New Jersey Democrats from moving ahead with an unlawful scheme to block President Trump from housing illegal aliens in privately run detention centers.
The 2-1 ruling is a warning shot to "sanctuary" jurisdictions around the country that are actively trying to thwart President Trump's mass deportation plans.
In 2021, New Jersey's Democratic governor Phil Murphy signed a law that bars state, local, and private entities from making contracts with the federal government to house illegal immigrants.
The appeals court called New Jersey's ban on private detention centers a "clever" ruse that flies in the face of the Constitution. The law was clearly "intended to ban immigration detention," the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit found.
Judge Cheryl Ann Krause, an Obama appointee, joined Judge Stephanos Bibas, an appointee of President Trump.
“Just as states cannot regulate the federal government itself, they cannot regulate private parties in a way that severely undercuts a federal function,” Bibas wrote.
The case was brought by CoreCivic, a private prison company that since 1996 has managed an immigration detention center in Elizabeth, New Jersey. A district judge sided with CoreCivic against New Jersey, which filed an appeal.
Shuttering the Elizabeth detention center would cripple ICE operations in New Jersey, the court said. The facility is in close proximity to major airports in the New York metropolitan area and was, until recently, the only major ICE detention center in the New Jersey.
Without it, ICE agents would have been forced to drive 250 miles to a detention center in the middle of Pennsylvania. The Trump administration opened a second ICE facility in New Jersey this May, in Newark.
"Though New Jersey does not want private immigration detention centers, the government often relies on them. U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) does not build its own lockups, and it does not operate them alone. Instead, it contracts with private companies or local governments to help run them," the appeals court noted.
New Jersey entered the spotlight in May after a trio of Democratic lawmakers were involved in a scuffle outside the Newark facility, leading to the indictment of congresswoman LaMonica McIver (D) for obstruction and assault.
The state's attorney general, Matthew Platkin (D), condemned the appeals court's ruling, citing the chaotic incident at Delaney Hall.
“As recent events at Delaney Hall underscore, entrusting detention to for-profit companies poses grave risks to health and safety,” he said.
In another move that has rankled Dems, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth announced that two military bases, one in New Jersey and another in Indiana, will be used to house immigrants facing removal.
