New Jersey Democrats push 'illegal' tax on ICE facilities

Democrats said the bill, named the KARIM Act after a detainee who has held at ICE's Delaney Hall facility, is aimed at replacing lost state tax revenue from federal contracts with a private company that operates the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement detention centers in New Jersey, and diverting funding for legal services and social programs to help detainees facing deportation. 

"Private Prisons profit off detention while New Jersey families carry the cost. This bill changes that," state Assemblymember Mitchelle Drulis, the bill's primary sponsor, said in a statement. "It is about protecting taxpayers from costs they should not have to bear. It is about ensuring that the financial consequences of federal detention are paid by the corporations that profit from it, not the families who are already paying more than their fair share." 

But Republicans say the proposal is unconstitutional and would effectively bankrupt the state's privately run prison systems, endangering public safety. 

"This bill levies an unconstitutional tax. It will inevitably be passed on to the federal government," state Assemblyman Bob Auth, R- Old Tappan, said in a statement. "It is illegal because it is a discriminatory tax." 

He said the legislation creates "an existential threat to federal law enforcement" and said New Jersey "could destroy the prisons that house the overwhelming majority of illegal immigrants by making costs prohibitive." 

ICE's Delaney Hall detention center, privately-run 1,000-bed facility, has become the latest flashpoint in opposition to President Donald Trump's crackdown on immigration since a group of detainees allegedly went on a hunger strike to protest conditions inside the facility. New Jersey sued Delaney Hall's private operator earlier this month after it was denied access for a state health inspection.

The Department of Homeland Security has pushed back on the claims of mistreatment and substandard conditions in the privately run New Jersey facility, and says detainees are allowed to access immigration lawyers and provided with due process.

The KARIM Act has cleared several legislative committees with favorable votes and could be taken up by the full Assembly before the Legislature's summer break. 

If approved, the bill would still need to pass the state Senate before landing on Gov. Mikie Sherrill's desk for consideration. Sherrill, a Democrat, hasn’t yet taken a position on the measure.