Today, the Third Circuit Court of Appeals found AB 5207, a state law prohibiting private detention contracts within state borders, to be unconstitutional.
Enacted in 2021, AB 5207, also known as New Jersey’s anti-detention law, employs the state’s traditional police powers to protect the people within its borders from the serious health and safety threats posed by detention facilities to people in their custody and the surrounding community. The law prohibits new private immigration detention contracts as well as state and local agreements to detain people for ICE. Today’s decision only impacts the law’s prohibition on private detention contracts.
With cooperating counsel Gibbons P.C., the ACLU of New Jersey had filed a friend-of-the-court brief on behalf of 28 community organizations in support of the state’s position that AB 5207 is a lawful and reasoned response to the serious harms caused by immigration detention in New Jersey.
In response to the decision, ACLU-NJ Staff Attorney Molly Linhorst issued the following statement:
“Today’s ruling by the Third Circuit is a devastating blow to immigrant communities in the Garden State. For years, communities across the state have advocated for New Jersey to exercise its traditional power to safeguard the health and safety of its residents and to address dangerous detention facilities within its borders. It has been widely proven that private immigration detention facilities are rampant with abuse, dangerous conditions, and medical neglect, presenting a critical threat to public health. We will continue to support state legislation that lawfully employs the state’s power to prevent the harm and trauma of immigration detention and urge our lawmakers to advance policies that affirm our state’s commitment to the safety and wellbeing of immigrant communities.”
