It’s been a year since Gov. Phil Murphy signed a law banning state and local jails from entering into contracts with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement to house immigrant detainees. The ICE detainee populations in Essex, Hudson and Bergen dwindled to zero, and there is now only one facility that continues to house them — the privately-run Elizabeth Detention Center.

“Many of these private prison companies rely on immigration detentions as the primary profit making … industry because there’s a slowing or reduced market for other jails and prisons. So comparatively, immigration detention has become the primary source of profit for these companies,” said Chia Chia Wong, organizing and advocacy director of American Friends Service Committee.