all eight of New Jersey's Democratic house members are calling on the Department of Justice to back off of its support of private immigration detention centers in the state saying that support defies President Biden's own position against the use of private prisons now this issue landed in the courts last year after the state of New Jersey passed a law Banning private facilities from entering into Federal contracts to detain migrants but a federal judge ruled to allow the Elizabeth Detention Center to remain open it is the last Detention Center in New Jersey and it's run by core Civic but lawmakers like Congressman Rob Menendez are concerned that the ruling leaves the door open for more detention facilities to open in the state while that lawsuit is on appeal he joins me now Congressman thanks so much for joining us here in the studio so you recently joined with all seven of your Democratic colleagues you sent a letter to the Biden Administration really asking for an about face on their position on Ice contracts here in New Jersey right talk to us about that letter what exactly are you asking for from them sure so I appreciate you having me on and one is we've been consistent on this issue the delegation has myself and Bonnie Watson Coleman have led multiple letters to the administration the state has been consistent on this issue in 2021 um the state legislature introduced uh and the governor signed into law uh a bill that would prohibit um these privately run detention centers and we just want the federal government to be consistent one with New Jersey state law two with their own directive to the Department of Justice uh requiring that drj not enter into any contracts with privately run detention centers because this is DHS and Ice there's a separate treatment to us it lacks a consistency both with what the state has set forth as its priorities what the administration has said with respect to the doj and to be consistent so what we've asked is that they not involve themselves in the new piece of litigation between uh this new entity that's looking to open a new facility or reopen a facility in nework um and asking them again to be aligned with our New Jersey values so that new entity is the Geo Group they are a Florida Florida based group they're looking right now at Delany Hall in Newark as you mentioned the Biden Administration sent a letter of support in the case against core Civic now a federal judge ruled that New Jersey's law was unconstitutional that it limits the the federal government's ability to do its job do you believe that this case wins on appeal which is where it is right now that's what we're hopeful for um and we believe that that decision was made misguided for a number of reasons but the other part of this is also these are executive decisions these are the administration making these decisions through DHS through ice and we believe they are the wrong decisions so because there's ongoing court cases we are concerned about their involvement in those court cases it doesn't even have to come to that they could make a decision through DHS through ice not to extend the contract in Elizabeth uh with core Civic um and then also not engage uh this geog group with respect to Delaney Hall so so we're going to combat this on all fronts um it doesn't matter what sort of setbacks we Face based on Court decisions we're going to keep hammering this issue because it's the wrong thing for New Jersey it's the wrong thing for our constituents it's hard to take the politics out of this moment right just two days before you sent the letter your second letter because one was sent also in August of last year just two days before this letter the Biden Administration came out Biden came out and announced that he was blocking all Asylum Seekers who didn't come through lawful processes he's clearly playing to the middle in the middle of an intense election season how does that fair do you believe for this request that you've made here for New Jersey well I don't believe that's the right decision either um and I believe the administration be should look at all the tools it has available to support our immigrant communities both here in New Jersey and throughout the country um we see the value every single day that people that are here whether on a document or an undocumented basis make to our communities and make to our economy that's the message we should be driving one that is more inclusive one that recognizes the work and contributions of all these different individuals instead of playing to the Republican narrative it's been a frustration that I've had with the administration because they've done some things right trying to expand pathways through TPS and the parole program but they've also done things that are clearly a direct response to the Republican narrative around the border around immigration to our country that's not the right thing to do and we're going to keep calling them out until they do what we believe is the right thing and what's ultimately aligned with our Democratic principles just a few seconds left have you heard anything back from the administration since you sent this letter we have not yet uh but we're going to continue to follow up and this is something that when we got involved with the Elizabeth Detention Center we said wasn't a one-off letter that were're going to continuously be involved myself Congressman Kim were actually at the Elizabeth detention center with a group of uh immigrant immigrant rights advocacy groups uh to make clear that this is our position and we will continue to to work steadily on this issue until we get to a much better result all right Congressman Rob Mendez thank you so much for taking the time thanks for having me good to talk to you always [Music]