Immigration activists call for more scrutiny of ICE activity in Bergen County

Group wants county officials to address concerns about local law enforcement cooperation with federal immigration agents and the sharing of license plate reader data

A group of immigration activists will ask the Bergen County Board of Commissioners on Wednesday to provide more accountability and oversight of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement activity in their communities.

Members of a grassroots movement called ICE Out For Good plan to attend the board’s Aug. 19 meeting at 7 p.m. at 1 Bergen County Plaza in Hackensack to raise concerns that local police might be cooperating with ICE or, at least, are not doing enough to support communities with large immigrant populations.

“There has been [New Jersey] legislation passed around how ICE should behave that is not being enforced,” the group said in a brief statement.

The group also has questions about how information collected by license plate readers is being used, according to the statement.

ICE has ramped up enforcement activity throughout New Jersey in recent months, including in several Bergen County communities.

The county commissioners have limited authority over federal immigration agents, but some of the activists’ concerns involve local law enforcement and the sharing of information with federal immigration authorities.

A longtime Republican bastion, Bergen County has shifted considerably to the left over the past two decades and is now a Democratic stronghold. All seven county commissioners are Democrats, as are longtime County Executive Jim Tedesco, Sheriff Anthony Cureton and the county’s other countywide elected officials.

Despite its current political leanings, Bergen County has a lengthy history with ICE. The federal agency paid the county nearly $40 million during President Donald Trump’s first term to house immigrant detainees at the Bergen County Jail in Hackensack.

The commissioners ended the contract in 2021 following detainee hunger strikes, protests and at least one lawsuit over conditions at the jail. Detainees alleged unsanitary conditions, physical abuse, religious discrimination and poor medical care during the COVID-19 pandemic, among other problems.

In a statement at the time, the board said it was “no longer prudent” to hold both inmates and immigration detainees at the facility.