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Tonight on NJ Spotlight News, immigrant detention fight.

Joint base McGuire-Dix-Lakers could become the largest holding site on the East Coast, housing up to 3,000 immigrants.

Congressman Herb Conaway weighs in.

We have heard report after report after report about inhumane treatment of undocumented immigrants.

Plus, the HABA saga continues.

A replacement fired by the DOJ to take over for acting U.S. Attorney Alina HABA says, "Not so fast.

She isn't going anywhere."

Also under the dome, a bill that would adopt a controversial definition of anti-Semitism is getting a lot of pushback from advocacy groups saying it's a threat to free speech.

And teaching climate science.

K-12 educators are in summer school learning to incorporate climate change in their fall curriculum.

I feel that when you go and actually do the things and learn the things and see the climate change and how it's changing and see how you can impact the kids, that's the way that you can teach it best.

NJ Spotlight News begins right now.

[♪♪] From NJ PBS Studios, this is NJ Spotlight News with Brianna Vanozzi.

Good evening and thanks for joining us on this Thursday night.

I'm Brianna Vanozzi.

We begin with a few of today's top stories.

First, NJ Spotlight News has obtained new information about the government's plans to use our military base in South Jersey as an immigrant detention site, potentially making it the largest on the East Coast.

According to federal documents, national immigration agencies have approval to use Joint Base McGuire-Dix-Lakehurst to hold a minimum of 1,000 detainees, up to as many as 3,000 under the new plan, which grants both U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, ICE, and Customs and Border Protection the ability to use an airfield at the base for up to two contracted commercial aircraft and crews at a time to remove detainees.

Now, a July 15th letter from the Pentagon also indicates that ICE and government contractors would be present on the base.

The move is part of a targeted goal by the Trump administration to deport 1 million immigrants in a year, and New Jersey's base would serve as an anchor to those plans in the Northeast.

The Pentagon also approved the use of military bases in Indiana and Cuba, though it's still unclear exactly why those locations were chosen and whether immigrant detainees are already being held at the bases.

The move has sparked debate locally and nationally.

Congressman Herb Conaway's district includes communities surrounding the base in New Jersey.

He's been a vocal critic of the plan, and he joins me now.

Congressman, we learned this afternoon that you and your colleague, Representative Norcross, are going to be touring the base tomorrow, I presume for an oversight check.

What specifically are you going to be looking for?

Well, the congressman Norcross and I want to make sure, first of all, to verify whether or not there are any undocumented immigrants on the base at this time and to get, quite frankly, a lay of the land.

We have been advised that the Joint Base McGuire, Fort Dix, Lakehurst, will be used as a detention facility for undocumented immigrants.

And given what we have heard about other such detention centers across the country, we certainly are concerned about whether or not people will be treated humanely at a facility on the Joint Base if, in fact, a facility, a detention facility, is housed there.

And, of course, we're concerned, as many are, that the base is an important part of our dispense structure and has a mission to protect the United States, to project force overseas, and to train our various Guard and Reserve units.

We don't want that critical mission interfered with by the distraction of a detention facility when so many of them across the country have been really involved in quite inhumane treatment of undocumented immigrants.

Yeah, I mean, ICE facilities have had a checkered past, both under Democratic and Republican administrations, for that matter.

Do you have any indications or anything that would lead you to believe at this point that any inhumane treatment or lack of legal representation might be happening there if, in fact, detainees are already being held?

Well, we're first, as I said, going to find out if there are detainees on the base.

We're not sure whether or not there are detainees there.

As yet, we've heard rumors.

We want to verify.

We have an oversight responsibility, and we intend to engage in that responsibility for the benefit of my constituents and as consistent with our responsibilities as congresspersons.

But you mentioned ICE facilities.

Past is prologue.

We have heard report after report after report about inhumane treatment of undocumented immigrants, people who are held incommunicado, people who cannot attain the advice of counsel.

If you're on a United States soil, you enjoy the protection of our United States Constitution, and we have heard report after report about those very basic constitutional protections being safeguarded when people are under the care of ICE personnel.

We have also heard very distressing reports about people held in stress positions, not being able to use the laboratory, particularly for women.

Often men and women are housed together.

There have been people who are detained with feces and urine on the floor.

They've been forced to eat off plates on the floor with their hands handcuffed behind them as if they were dogs.

Beatings, cameras turned off because someone complained about their treatment and then have been subjected to a brutal treatment by ICE officials.

And so that kind of thing, if it occurs on the base, will impact the morale of our fighting force.

If they're there, our service members are going to, may very well be involved in augmenting the personnel in charge of guarding the detainees.

And so this kind of treatment, sanctioned as it appears to be by the highest levels in ICE, will definitely have a negative impact on the operations of the base.

And again, we believe our military bases should be used for war fighting and for training and preparation for a call from the president to conduct military operations.

Congressman, let me ask you about that very quickly in the time that we have left, because there is history at the base for helping refugees, Kosovo, Afghan refugees most recently, before they were rehoused and brought into the U.S. seeking refuge.

So what do you say or how do you respond to folks who say this is an underutilized space?

It's well equipped and therefore it's a logical choice to use an air base.

Well, in the Afghan refugee situation, as an example, these are refugees, first of all, who assisted United States personnel in their mission in Afghanistan when they arrived on the joint base.

And I was a health officer for the county, a host county, when the base was used for the refugees.

So we had a lot of interaction with military personnel and others who were involved in the care of people that were housed on the base.

They had health care.

They were well clothed.

They were well fed.

If there was a pregnancy or another operation that was needed, they were transferred off base.

We worked closely to get vaccinations for people.

It was a humanitarian mission.

And the best values of the American people in our country were evident in how people were treated, how the refugees from Afghanistan and Kosovo were treated on the base.

We have no confidence, given the way ICE has managed its facilities in other parts of the country, that that same kind of humane ethic, consistent with our American values, will be maintained if one of these facilities is put on our military bases.

Congressman Herb Conaway, we have to leave it there.

We thank you so much for your time.

Thank you for your interest.

I appreciate it.

Another big headline we're following tonight, the face-off in the U.S. Attorney's Office continues.

The prosecutor selected by federal judges to replace acting U.S. Attorney Alina Haba says she's prepared to take on the job, despite being fired by top Justice Department officials just a day earlier.

First Assistant U.S. Attorney Desiree Grace was tapped by New Jersey's slate of federal judges to take over for Haba when her temporary term expires this week.

Haba, of course, was handpicked by President Trump and previously served as his personal attorney.

But she got a no-confidence vote from both the U.S. District Court and in terms of New Jersey's U.S.

Senators.

Grace worked her way up at the U.S. Attorney's Office over the last decade as a seasoned prosecutor.

In a lengthy post on LinkedIn, Grace wrote she was honored to be chosen and to serve, adding she's ready to begin in accordance with the law.

But even if she is sworn in after midnight Friday when Haba's term officially ends, the president could fire her, escalating the showdown further.

A major win for the state attorney general's office this week after New Jersey's Supreme Court yesterday upheld the state's takeover of the Patterson Police Department, meaning the office will continue to control the city's police for the foreseeable future.

But the court's ruling was written to be limited just to the situation in Patterson, and justices left a question open about the AG's general authority to take over other local police departments undecided.

Dealing with that question is now up to state lawmakers.

As senior correspondent Brenda Flanagan reports, it's unclear if they'll take any action.

I'm extraordinarily gratified that the court did say emphatically that what we did again was legal.

State Attorney General Matt Platt can hail the New Jersey Supreme Court ruling that lets his office remain in control of Patterson's notorious police department after a hostile takeover more than two years ago faced ferocious legal challenges from the mayor and police union.

Social justice advocates also cheered.

This is a win for the people of Patterson.

The AG superseded Patterson's police department because of the years of blatant police misconduct at the hands of their police department towards, in particular, the Black and brown people of Patterson.

But the high court focused specifically on Patterson, narrowly targeting its unanimous decision to address whether New Jersey's legislature authorized the March 2023 takeover.

It found Trenton lawmakers did by approving an interim officer in charge, Issa Abassi, and by appropriating millions in state aid to finance the effort.

But the justices punted on a much larger question.

Can the AG do what Platt can did by law?

And that is a good question.

I mean, I think the court didn't say, didn't decide one way or the other.

Courts routinely do not reach larger questions when they don't have to.

It's about whether the supersession of the Patterson police department was lawful.

And on that question, the court emphatically said 7-0 unanimous yes.

But even as it reversed an appellate decision, the high court warned this appeal raises significant questions about the claim that the attorney general may supersede and take control of an entire law enforcement agency whenever he determines that step to be appropriate.

The legislature has the authority to address those questions directly and clarify its intent and expectations should it decide to do so.

It was a more limited decision.

And so we are calling on lawmakers in the state legislature to pass a law that expressly ratifies the attorney general's ability to do that in other police departments around the state.

Legislative leadership didn't respond to requests for comment.

New Jersey's ACLU, which filed an amicus brief in the case, pointed to the Trump administration's decision to retract investigations of police departments like the one in Trenton that alleged cops used excessive force against the public.

When the federal government is retreating from holding local police departments accountable, the attorney general's ability to intervene and make sure that New Jersey communities are getting the policing they deserve and that's lawful and constitutional is really critical.

Now, if the state legislature wants to grant whomever is the attorney general going forward that authority, then they have every right to do so.

But at the moment, there is no law that states that an attorney general has the right to take over a police department in New Jersey.

Patterson's mayor had argued that point from the start.

He acknowledges the Supreme Court ruling means Patterson remains under the AG's control because the legislature supports it.

He also welcomes the additional $10 million in annual state aid for public safety.

I've only looked for a partnership.

We know that we are resource strapped in our city.

Both Sayah and Platkin praised the department's current officer in charge, Captain Pat Murray, a 40-year veteran of the force.

Both cited statistics that show crimes trending downward here and that the frayed relationship between Patterson's cops and its beleaguered residents is slowly beginning to mend.

A local activist who often protested against police violence agrees.

Where in the past, I've been on the opposite side with the signs, with the bullhorns, with the pickets and so forth.

But in looking at the data and looking just at the environment, the flow, the way people even respond to the police department, it's different.

Patterson police have been implementing the Attorney General's 55-point strategic plan to reform the department, aiming to restore the public's faith in its police force.

Platkin says it's 90 percent completed.

And yes, when the time is right, I agree.

Return to local control should occur.

We're not there yet.

We have more work to do.

But everybody agrees that is the long-term goal here.

There's no actual timeline, but there is a political calendar predicting change.

Both major party candidates for New Jersey governor have stated if elected, they intend to appoint their own attorney general.

I'm Brenda Flanagan, NJ Spotlight News.

Protests erupted at the statehouse in Trenton today as lawmakers moved closer to adopting a formal definition of anti-Semitism that'll use specific language framed by the International Holocaust Remembrance Association that some see as controversial and a threat to free speech.

35 other states and the District of Columbia have already adopted the IHRA's definition.

New Jersey lawmakers debated the bill for more than a year, and today it finally received a special committee hearing.

Senior correspondent Joanna Gagas is in Trenton with the details as part of our Under the Dome series.

Joanna, at issue here is a bill that would create a state definition of anti-Semitism and a public awareness campaign around biased crimes.

Proponents of the bill say that it's necessary to create a clear sense of what constitutes anti-Semitism and to give law enforcement a clear legal response.

But opponents of the bill say that it violates the free speech protections outlined in both New Jersey and the nation's Constitution.

Those opponents held a rally before the hearing started that had its own share of controversy, which spilled over into the hours-long meeting afterwards.

We will not let them silence us.

Yesterday I saw a video about a baby in Gaza who was three months old who died because there was no formula for him.

And his mom didn't have water to drink so that she could nurse him.

At least having the ability to say that Israel is stopping all of this water and all this food from going into Gaza is wrong.

Saying that is really important to me.

Let me be unequivocal.

This bill does not infringe upon the First Amendment.

The legislation as amended explicitly states that it shall not be construed to, quote, "restrict, penalize, diminish, or infringe upon any right protected by the Fourth Amendment of the United States Constitution or Paragraph 6 of Article 1 of the New Jersey State Constitution."

We are not policing thought or opinion.

We are empowering our state to combat discriminatory conduct motivated by anti-Semitism.

A3558 neither creates new crimes nor does it threaten academic freedom for critical inquiry.

It establishes a framework for our state to respond more effectively under existing anti-discrimination laws.

Consider these examples from our community.

A student is assaulted simply for identifying as Israeli.

A Jewish senior living facility is threatened with a letter calling for genocide.

A Jewish day school's social media page is targeted with a comment, "A great place to bomb."

The Jewish community must stand up to those bullies who see this bill as a threat to their ability to harass and intimidate us.

I am here today to respectfully express my disapproval with the bill currently the way it's written in front of us.

Not because I disagree with the spirit of the legislation, but because I fear that implementation of this bill could have unintended consequences for free speech, academic inquiry, and legitimate political discourse.

While the bill includes disclaimers affirming First Amendment protections, the line between guidance and enforcement becomes murky, especially when applied by state agencies and law enforcement in response to speech that may be critical to a foreign government's policies.

Anybody with any legal background that reads through this bill will see clearly that every paragraph of itself is contradictory to the one before.

Section 2 of this very bill gives you 30 examples of what you can't say about the state of Israel.

That is not free speech.

When the author of the definition himself is saying, "Hey, I didn't intend for this.

It's being misused for the exact purpose that we're all here for today."

That's what we're here about, okay?

Everyone in this room, everyone in this room stands against anti-Semitism in solidarity.

But this is about free speech, and we ask you, candidly, do you support it?

Shall this pass, we will challenge this in the court, and every court in this nation will clearly show you how unconstitutional this is.

With more than 250 speakers, this hearing spilled well into the evening hours, long past our deadline.

But whether this bill passes with amendments or not, it's clear these two sides couldn't be further apart.

In Trenton, I'm Joanna Gagas, NJ Spotlight News.

Under the Dome is made possible in part by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, a private corporation funded by the American people.

In our spotlight on business report tonight, health benefit plans for public workers are getting a lot of attention in Trenton.

Workers and union leaders packed that same special committee meeting today as lawmakers considered a union-backed bill to overhaul the health benefits program for state and local government employees.

According to supporters, the bill is designed to stabilize rising premium costs and will give unions more of a say on the commission that designs the plans.

It comes as hundreds of thousands of public workers face steep hikes in health care costs.

An estimated 20 percent increase for state workers, nearly 30 percent more for teachers and other school staff, and a staggering 37 percent jump for local government employees.

The state treasury department has said the health coverage program for those local government workers is in a "death spiral" as more towns opt out of the plans because of those rising premiums.

Meanwhile, the current state budget requires the unions to find $100 million in savings over the next six months.

The bill was released from committee today, but it hasn't been introduced in the Senate.

Instead, Senate President Nick Scuteri is proposing a task force to recommend fixes.

Support for The Business Report is provided by the Newark Alliance Presents the 2025 Halsey Fest, featuring the vibrancy of Newark's Arts and Education District and Halsey Street.

Halsey, a neighborhood built on hustle and heart.

The 2025 Halsey Fest schedule is available at HalseyNWK.com.

Finally tonight, climate science has come under attack at the federal level recently, but at Stockton University, K-12 teachers are getting the chance to take part in a free two-day seminar, teaching them how to introduce the lessons in their classrooms.

In 2020, New Jersey became the first state in the nation to include climate change in public school curriculums, and as Ted Goldberg reports, the lessons today were proving invaluable.

He's puffing up, look.

Yeah, he's puffing up now.

Elizabeth Podolsky was pumped up to see and feel a striped burrfish do its thing.

I got to hold the puffer fish and it actually puffed in my hand, so it was very cool.

You could feel like the burrs on it.

It was a really cool experience.

She's a first grade teacher in Mays Landing, and one of the teachers taking part in a state grant that teaches teachers about climate change and its effect on ecosystems, coordinated by Stockton University.

I feel that when you go and actually do the things and learn the things and see the climate change and how it's changing and see how you can impact the kids, that's the way that you can teach it best.

It gives more relevance.

This stuff is here, these kids see this water all the time and they don't know what's at the bottom, so getting to bring those little things back.

Brittany Field teaches in Egg Harbor Township.

I just love seeing what's here.

I've grown up just a little south of here, but the water's been my thing since as far back as I can remember, so the more I can see, the more I love it.

These teachers set up, and reeled in, a seine net through Great Bay.

Their objective was to count the different kinds of sea life that showed up, mostly juveniles of familiar species.

We're getting a chance to follow some of these early, what we call, young of the year individuals, or YOY individuals, as they start moving into the adult populations.

And the sampling that we're doing today, that we're demonstrating for the teachers, is exactly the same as we would do as part of various research projects for the state.

And also sea life you might not expect.

I'm just looking inside of the sponge, just to make sure that we're not missing anything, any kind of little invertebrate, any interesting crab.

How often do you get those fun little surprises?

50/50 shot.

While the specific program with various teachers is fairly recent, Stockton has been monitoring the water in Great Bay going back decades, with several real-world applications.

When you sample multiple sites over a nice time window, you can really start to see patterns emerging, species again that are maybe moving into New Jersey waters from the south, and then you also get an idea of species that might be expanding their range north.

What fish are here?

What fish have come up from the south?

Are fish beginning to migrate north?

They can then go back and look at data sets in their own classroom with their students, and think about what changes are we seeing over time?

While taking their measurements, the crabs, and everybody else, were thrown back into the water.

It's up to the teachers to decide what to bring with them when they're back in the classroom.

In Little Lake Harbor, I'm Ted Goldberg, NJ Spotlight News.

That's going to do it for us tonight, but a reminder, you can download our podcast wherever you listen, and watch us anytime by subscribing to the NJ Spotlight News YouTube channel.

I'm Brianna Van Ozie.

For the entire team at NJ Spotlight News, thanks for being with us.

Have a great night.

We'll see you right back here tomorrow.

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