Immigration and Customs Enforcement says its detention center at the Bergen County Jail in New Jersey is about 50 percent over capacity, raising concerns about the spread of the coronavirus as lawyers seek to get high-risk immigrants out of detention.
The document from ICE, submitted by immigration attorneys to a judge as part of a national class-action lawsuit to release people from detention, indicates that the facility was 71 percent over capacity in November and 41 percent over capacity last month. A spokesperson for the New York field office for ICE, which oversees detainees at the facility, said the data was inaccurate and the jail is actually under capacity, but more information to explain the discrepancy was not immediately available.
The statistics back up concerns raised by detainees that they are unable to keep safe from COVID inside the jail, where social distancing is difficult. Their complaints came to a head late last year, when a series of hunger strikes behind bars sparked near-daily anti-ICE protests outside the jail, some of which led to clashes with police.
But Bergen County Sheriff Anthony Cureton, who jails the detainees through a multimillion dollar ICE contract, denied that there are any crowding issues at the jail. A sheriff spokeswoman said that the ICE dorms are actually below capacity, at 15 detainees per unit. She said there are about 500 inmates at the facility, including ICE detainees, and the capacity is 1,150 people. The jail is in compliance with state social distancing guidelines, she said.
Cureton has previously said that detainees are treated well and all precautions are taken to avoid the spread of coronavirus. ICE declined to elaborate on the court filing.
Thirteen detainees at the Bergen County Jail now have COVID, the most of any ICE detention center in New York or New Jersey, according to ICE.
This article was updated on February 1st with a comment from ICE, which initially declined to respond to this story. The headline was also changed.