‘No more blood money!’ Protestors demand closure of ICE detention centers at Newark march – NJ.com

Protestors chanting, “No more blood money!” turned heads Saturday as they marched through Newark demanding the closure of Immigration and Customs Enforcement detention facilities.

The Resist the Deportation Machine Network and more than a dozen labor, immigrant, community and environmental groups rallied supporters at Peter Francisco Park in the heavily-immigrant Ironbound section of the city.

The group of about 75 people listened to speakers, held signs, banged drums and sang, before making the 3-mile trek down Ferry Street to the Essex County Correctional Facility on Doremus Avenue, where more than 1,000 ICE detainees are held.

The group deemed the detention centers concentration camps because “a concentration camp is a place where political prisoners are kept,” said Stacey Gregg, an activist from Rockaway.

“These are warehoused human beings for dollars,” she told the crowd. “It’s human trafficking at its worst, and it’s blood money.”

Essex County collected an average monthly payment of $2.75 million in 2018 — more than the other two New Jersey counties that also have contracts with the federal government to house ICE detainees. Hudson County last year got $1.95 million and Bergen received $1.1 million on average, monthly.

“They’re putting people in camps as if they’ve done something wrong,” said Denise Brush, of Glassboro, a representative of the Green Party of NJ. “They’re just trying to have a better life.”

Rally organizers called out county officials who approved the contracts for the detainees to be held here and said the money they represent should instead be raised by taxing the rich.

“The Essex County Executive [Joseph] DiVincenzo, better known as Deportation Joe, says the county needs the revenue generated by the blood money contracts to fund services. This is a lie,” said Jobs and Equal Rights for All organizer Eric Lerner. “We need to tax the wealth and income of the billionaire class to fund and expand our public services — like clean water in Newark.”

DiVincenzo’s office did not respond to a request for comment Saturday.

Rally attendees included activists who individually belonged to several organizations and novices who wanted to learn more about the issue.

“We’re here to stand against the oppression of all people,” said Jamhar James, of Newark, who belongs to the United Panther Movement and the New African Black Panther Party.

Nathaly Noguera, a high school Spanish teacher in Passaic, said the parents of a child at her school were deported last year.

“It’s just very sad,” she said.

About 90 percent of the students there are Latino and their immigration status is unknown, Noguera said.

“I wanted to get information here, so that I can help the students know their rights,” she said.

Husband and wife Michael McGregor and Annick DeSroches, of Westwood, brought their two children to the rally, “so they can see what they can do and how change happens,” DeSroches said.

McGregor said the protest shows there are differing opinions on the ICE issue.

“I hope more and more people see that people disagree with this,” he said. “And I hope people who disagree with it see that there are more people who think like them.”

Allison Pries may be reached at apries@njadvancemedia.com. Follow her on Twitter@AllisonPries. Find NJ.com on Facebook. Get the latest updates right in your inbox. Subscribe to NJ.com’s newsletters.