Icymi: in New OP-ED Booker Highlights CALL for ICE Accountability, Stands WITH Roxbury & NJ Communities Opposing ICE Detention Centers

In case you missed it, U.S. Senator Cory Booker (D-NJ), a member of the Senate Judiciary Committee, wrote an op-ed published in The New Jersey Star-Ledger calling for no new ICE detention centers in New Jersey. Yesterday, Booker visited an ICE facility in Roxbury where he witnessed firsthand the inhumane conditions detainees are living in, and asserts that we need sweeping immigration reform.
See for yourself:
NJ.COM
Roxbury’s Fight is Our Fight: No New ICE Detention Centers in New JerseyBy: Cory BookerJanuary 22, 2026
In New Jersey, we don’t mince words or back down from fighting for what we believe in. In Jersey, we stand up for our neighbors, and we have each other’s back, regardless of South, Central, or North Jersey distinctions.
In Morris County, the Roxbury Township community is fighting an issue that will not only affect them, but the entire Garden State: A newlyproposedImmigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) detention center in their backyard.
Across Morris County, local leaders and community members have stood up and spoken out to make clear why this detention center should have no place in their community. Roxbury’s Councilexplicitly rejectedthe Department of Homeland Security’s (DHS) proposal, and constituentsshowedup at the Council’s meeting to protest ICE’s presence in their town.
They’re outraged about this plan, and I am too.
This week, I visited Roxbury and toured the warehouse that ICE intends to repurpose. My message was very simple: There should be no new immigration detention centers in New Jersey. The ones that exist already — Delaney Hall in Newark and the Elizabeth Detention Center (EDC) — are poorly-managed, shoddy constructions whose for-profit operators have done nothing to prove themselves worthwhile, good-faith partners to local government leaders or the communities that host them.
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Despite this, the Trump administration continues to expect us — New Jerseyans — to foot the bill for the gross mistreatment of our immigrant neighbors and themismanagement of billionsin taxpayer dollars.
At the most basic level, warehouses are not meant to safely hold people, and the conditions at this new site would likely be similar to the dismal conditions at Delaney Hall and EDC.
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To be sure, Roxbury and Morris County residents will bear the cost of a deal if the warehouse is turned to a detention center. ICE’s presence will mean increased traffic on local roads and an increased strain on emergency and municipal services.
Above all, this kind of detention center is a moral stain and an insult to the immigrants who call this community home. Walls and fences would become a defining feature of this quaint local landscape, an affront to the greater community that is stronger for its diversity.
SEE ALSO:
NorthJersey.com: Sen. Cory Booker calls ICE 'agency out of control' in Morristown visit
FOX5: Sen. Booker meets with community leaders in Morristown to discuss recent ice actions.
NJ Spotlight News: Booker Meets With Community Leaders in Morristown to Discuss ICE
Morristown Green.com: ‘Chaos, corruption and cruelty’: Booker raps Trump, ICE in Morristown
The Daily Record: After Morristown arrests, Booker rails against 'out of control' ICE
Morristown Daily Record: Morristown ICE raid: donations pour in for detainees' legal defense
North Jersey.com: Photos as Cory Booker speaks out on Morristown ICE arrests
Pix 11:NJ senator won’t approve more money for ‘out of control’ ICE