Dozens of protesters endured pouring rain and high winds in New Jersey Dec. 7 in order to support an “Occupy the Freeholders” event organized by Occupy Newark and local religious and community organizations. In an attempt to fight the criminal detention and deportation of the undocumented population in New Jersey and around the country, organizers called for people to come to the Essex County Freeholders (legislators) meeting where a contract for a new immigration detention center was being debated by the Newark Freeholders.
With chants of “Jobs not jails” and “No prisons for profit,” the lively protesters marched to Wells Fargo to highlight the millions of dollars the bank has made in the booming immigrant and prisoner detention industry. Next they marched to the Federal Building and then to a local community rally before heading into the Hall of Records where the Essex County Freeholders meeting was about to begin.
Activists successfully flooded the public meeting with testimony from immigrant rights activists and community members. About 20 people testified in opposition to the Immigration and Customs Enforcement contract, and many more stood in support inside and outside the meeting room. Immigrant rights supporters tied up the meeting for at least an hour.
Rev. Moacir Weirich of Grace Community Lutheran Church asked the Freeholders to reflect on their decision to support this detention center just because it would bring extra money into the county, making reference to the era of slavery and how that practice was also justified because it was economically expedient. Members of “IRATE & First Friends,” a non-profit organization dedicated to immigrant rights, testified about the truly horrifying conditions inside Delaney Hall, the privately run corrections facility that would be expanded if this new contract with ICE is approved.
Yari Osorio, the vice presidential candidate of the Party for Socialism and Liberation, asked the Freeholders meeting to explain why they are placing the economic recession squarely on the backs of the most defenseless population in their community. He said, “Today I come not only to ask you to stop this contract but to attempt to make it clear to your constituency the cruel and inhumane decisions the Freeholders of Essex County are making in the pursuit of a few extra dollars.”
As a result of about an hour of public testimony in opposition to the ICE contract, the Freeholders were not able to get through the entire agenda, and so a second meeting was scheduled for Dec. 14 and the vote on the contract postponed at least until then.
John Clancy, chairman and CEO of Community Education Centers, one of the largest prison industry companies in America, was also on hand, but he was not able to speak because of the occupation of the meeting. CEC has been doing business with Essex County for years and this latest contract would secure even more profits for the already wealthy John Clancy and the other CEC executives.
After finding out who this man was, Osorio confronted John Clancy in the hallway, warning him that a movement is growing to deliver people like him to justice for years of profiting from other people’s misery.
We will not stop until capitalist criminals like John Clancy and his goons in government are no longer allowed to profit off the misery of immigrant workers. Full rights for all immigrants! Shut down Delaney Hall!
