REMINDER: Biden Aid to Defeat of NJ’s Detention Camp Ban Weakened Current Legal Options to Stop Roxbury Warehouse to Death Camp Conversion
On February 16 2026, about 500 NJ citizens and residents united in Roxbury NJ in opposition to the reported plan to convert a Roxbury warehouse to a detention camp – part of the current Trump administration to permanently root the current mayhem of the fascist ICE crackdown in our communities.
Feb 16 Roxbury Protest photo published on Bluesky.
The legal failure of the well intended attempt to ban NJ privately run detention facilities is well documented in this Truth Out piece: https://truthout.org/articles/appeals-court-strikes-down-new-jerseys-ban-on-private-prisons/
The NJ private prison ban was passed in 2021 after a concerted and protracted NJ wide community based pressure effort engaging the immigrant advocacy and human rights groups across the whole state.
The law was challenged by Core Civic, a primary detention prison management profiteer in NJ that operates the private inhumane facility in Elizabeth NJ – which exists in a converted industrial building.
History records the depraved role of the Biden Administration.
History has recorded that Governor Murphy pocket vetoed the two more important Immigrant Trust Act bills as his last action / inaction as governor. His own party had passed the bills that he vetoed.
In the case of the ban on private prisons – the Democrats had passed the ban and Murphy signed it. But President Biden in July of 2023 filed a friend of the court motion to support CivicCore’s challenge – against the law passed by his own Democratic Party.
Like how Murphy sabotaged the Immigrant Trust Act of his own party, Biden attacked the private prison ban of his own party – the Democratic Party which in these two very important developments – could not even unite their own party around the work of our communities in finally getting the legislative Democrats to take protective action.
So now as we are subjected to confusing announcements this week that the Roxbury deal went through – by ICE – only to be told later that ICE announced the purchase in error: More mayhem from the Trump Administration of course and such toying with the deadly announcement of the purchase certainly seems to be part of Trump’s strategy.
The Trump supporting Roxbury local government passed a resolution opposing the reported plan to convert a warehouse in Roxbury to a death camp. The Roxbury goivernment has not announced any plans and has not allocated funds to legally fight in the likelihood that the Trump Adminisrration imposes the facility against the local government opposition from his own support base. That is what happened in Social Circle, Georgia: the local overwhelmingly Trump supporting government opposed a similar warehouse to death camp conversion and the sale went through anyway.
Trump supporters who say “we support the ICE mission – just not putting the detention camp in our own neighborhood” are indeed self deluded. The disregard of local control over our communities in regard to death camp siting is all part of the same ICE mission you support – Trump people. You are directly responsible for the predicament and you can not have it both ways.
TO ROXBURY MAGA WHO OPPOSE THE ICE WAREHOUSE CHAMBER OF HARM:
If you support the ICE mission you support his imposing these facilities on your community – your only power move is to en mass announce your departure from Trump support over it. If you are not making that announcement, you are 100% in support of Trump’s Roxbury ICE camp plan. Saying you support everything Trump does – except for the warehouse to ICE camp conversion – is powerless and useless. “We support you just not on this” is a fool’s mission and such a statement makes no sense.
TO NJ DEMOCRATS WHO THINK THEIR PARTY IS GOING TO PROTECT US – IT HAS FAILED MISERABLY!
The detention camp ban law in NJ might have survived or might have failed without the Biden help provided to the death camp operators: CoreCivic. However the Biden help to the prison profiteers was definitely a harmful factor in the decision – it can not be ignored and can not be written out of history. Our ability to stop the Roxbury facility was WEAKENED by President Biden’s actions.
Likewise Murphy’s veto of ITA shows that Democrats do not even support the work of their own party when it comes to helping the ICE war against the NJ people – in both cases the community worked in overdrive to improve and protect, finally got Democratic Party support only to be undermined by more powerful Democrats!
While we can not go back and undo the damage that Biden did against NJ’s attempt to ban private for profit prisons in NJ, we can remember the insidious role of Biden just like the insidious role of Murphy. We can be very careful with Democrat party candidates, officials, party operatives, etc. who are attempting to influence and control the fights against the many ICE and Trump related attacks on NJ! If they want to participate – let them be humble and allow the communicty organizers to chart out the path.
But if they plan as usual to usurp the opposition – misrepresent it – make vapid sound bytes but steer the sentiment away from action and just into voting – we need to make another plan without them!
