Two Democratic members of the New Jersey congressional delegation are planning to conduct an oversight visit Friday at Joint Base McGuire-Dix-Lakehurst following the decision by the Pentagon to use the New Jersey military base as a detention site for undocumented immigrants.
U.S. Rep. Herb Conaway (D-3rd), whose district includes communities surrounding the base, and U.S. Rep. Donald Norcross (D-1st) will tour Joint Base McGuire-Dix-Lakehurst to gather information about the areas that will be used to hold migrants.
According to federal documents obtained by NJ Spotlight News, national immigration agencies have been approved to use the joint base to hold a minimum of 1,000 detainees and up to as many as 3,000, potentially making it the largest immigrant detention site on the East Coast. Under the plan, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement and U.S. Customs and Border Protection could use an airfield at the base for up to two contracted commercial aircraft and crews at a time to remove detainees. A July 15 letter from the Pentagon also indicates that ICE and government contractors would be present on the base.
Conaway, an outspoken critic of the plan, says the Trump administration has provided little information about what’s happening on-site, whether detainees are already being held there and why the joint base was selected as a detention location.
“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,” Conaway said of his upcoming visit to the joint base, in an interview with NJ Spotlight News. “Given what we’ve heard about other such detention centers across the country, we certainly are concerned about whether or not people will be treated humanely, people who are held incommunicado, people who could not attain the advice of counsel.
“We’ve heard distressing reports about people … not being able to use the lavatory, 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 brutal treatment by ICE officials,” he said.
