New Jersey bans its jails from taking in new immigrants sent by ICE; 5th state to do so.

New Jersey jails were barred from holding new federal suspects detained by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), according to a bill signed by Gov. Phil Murphy yesterday.

The new law prohibits local and private jails from “entering into, renewing, or extending” detention agreements with ICE, but it does not terminate current contracts.

New Jersey is the fifth state to limit or prohibit such contracts, after California, Illinois, Washington and Maryland.

The practice of having contracts with the federal agency to detain suspects pending deportation hearings can be very lucrative for local governments, with some charging up to $ 120 per day for each detainee , according to ICE's 2018 budget, New noted. York Post.

Prisons in NJ's Bergen and Hudson counties still have contracts remaining, and a private jail in Elizabeth recently extended its until 2023, according to NJ Advance Media.

The governor, who is seeking reelection this November, came under pressure from various groups of activists and lobbyists to push through the legislation, including the New Jersey Civil Liberties Union (ACLU).

For too long, New Jersey has allowed and benefited from ICE's cruel immigration detention system that rips apart families and communities, " ACLU-NJ Policy Director Sarah Fajardo said in a statement Friday. "With the signing of this bill, New Jersey is taking a first step to end its complicity in the mass detention of non-citizens" of the United States.

Murphy has just returned from his much-criticized vacation trip to Italy and did not issue a statement on the new bill. The majority leader of the state Senate sponsor of the bill, Loretta Weinberg, said that "prisons in the county and other entities should be used to house people accused of actual crimes, not to retain arbitrarily people who are trying to live their lives and contribute like any other ”.