A Democratic governor is perpetuating the party’s efforts to shut down President Donald Trump’s mass deportation plans by filing a lawsuit against a new detention center.
The Trump administration planned to convert a massive warehouse for use by Immigration and Customs Enforcement in Roxbury, a township of about 23,000 residents in New Jersey.
‘Let’s be honest about this. This case isn’t about the environment. It’s about trying to stop President Trump from making America safe again.’
On Friday, the town announced a lawsuit to block the plan, and New Jersey Gov. Mikie Sherrill, a Democrat, posted on social media that her administration had signed on.
“Together with the Township of Roxbury, we are suing ICE and the Department of Homeland Security to stop their illegal plan to convert a warehouse into a mass detention facility,” Sherill said. “We will not allow the Trump administration to violate the rights of New Jerseyans.”
The complaint accuses the U.S. Department of Homeland Security of violating four laws while trying to convert the 470,000 square-foot warehouse into a center that could house as many as 1,500 people. The lawsuit alleges that DHS ignored required environmental review in their rush to convert the facility.
Sherrill made her case in a press conference in Newark.
“This plan won’t make the community or our state safer, and as I’ve said before, we will never just stand by and let this administration violate the rights of New Jerseyans,” she said.
A spokesperson for ICE fired off a response to the governor.
“Let’s be honest about this. This case isn’t about the environment. It’s about trying to stop President Trump from making America safe again,” the spokesperson said in a statement to CBS News.
“The left didn’t care about the mountains of litter that illegal aliens dropped on ranches and riverbeds during Biden’s border crisis,” the statement continued. “They’re feigning concern now because they want those same illegal aliens to stay forever and vote here.”
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“A logistics center fit for Amazon Prime packages is an unjustifiable location at which to establish a mass immigration detention center covering the 1,000 to 1,500 detainees DHS plans to house in the Roxbury Warehouse,” read the lawsuit.
Critics also point to inadequate bathroom facilities in the center as well as concerns over road and wastewater capacity.
“It doesn’t just violate common sense, it violates federal law, not to mention zoning and building codes that any other property owner would have to abide by,” Sherrill said. “The administration may think it’s above the law, but it will soon find out that that is not the case.”
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