30 Issues in 30 Days: ICE & Detention Centers

Brian Lehrer (0:10)

It's The Brian Lehrer Show on WNYC. Good morning, everyone. We are in our 30 Issues and 30 Days election series. Let other media focus only on the polls and the personalities and the attack ads. We are choosing an issue a day for 30 straight shows to help you be as informed a voter as you can in our local congressional swing districts and the New York state governor's race. Today, we'll wrap up our three day focus, Issues 5, 6 and 7, in the crucial Tom Kean, Jr. Rebecca Bennett congressional race in New Jersey's 7th congressional district, which runs from just west of Staten Island out to the Pennsylvania line down near where Washington crossed the Delaware once upon a time. The town there is actually called Washington Crossing. I was just biking there this summer. That exists. Coming up tomorrow and Friday, our first two issues in, I should say our next two issues in the New York state governor's race. Utility bills will be tomorrow.

We're picking one for Friday still. Then next Monday through Wednesday, we'll shift our focus to the Mike Lawler, Kate Conley swing district congressional race north of the city. Three issues from the debate that they held on Monday night this week. So that's some of what's coming up.

Right now, 30 issues in 30 days, issue number 7, immigration as an issue in the race between Tom Kean, Jr., the Republican incumbent and Democratic challenger, Rebecca Bennett. In Sunday night's debate sponsored by the New Jersey Globe and Rider University, ICE detention came up in two stretches of the debate. Here's the first one, minute and a half, in which they made a little news. This begins with the moderator's question to Congressman Kean.

SPEAKER_2 (1:54)

Congressman Kean, can you understand the frustration of the Roxbury residents you represent, who according to local officials have been unable to get you to tell them whether you support or oppose the use of a warehouse in their backyards as an ICE detention center? What steps will you take to either support or oppose them?

Tom Kean Jr. (2:14)

I oppose that warehouse being located in that town, and I've been working with the mayor as well as the executive branch to make sure that we focus on not only the water, the danger, and the cause of energy associated. So actually I've been partnering with the mayor to get an answer through ICE and through the federal government. We need to make, I would not support a warehouse in Roxbury, and my focus is to always listen to my constituents.

Now, we've got a real problem that my opponent's party supports, which is she doesn't allow or doesn't want different levels of law enforcement to actually talk to each other. The federal government, the state government, and the local government are not allowed to talk under her supported approach of sanctuary cities that actually makes things less safe and makes people in each community less safe. My focus is to make sure we don't have a nice facility in Roxbury.

Rebecca Bennett (3:13)

This is the first time we have heard Congressman Tom Kean, Jr. actually be explicit about his position on the detention facility in Roxbury. Thank you for telling us where you stand finally.

Brian Lehrer (3:25)

There was that exchange on immigration from Sunday's Tom Kean, Jr., Rebecca Bennett debate. There was one more later in the debate. We'll play that as we go.

Back with us now is WNYC New Jersey reporter Mike Hayes. Hi again, Mike. Thanks for being our main eyes and ears in this race.

Mike Hayes (3:40)

Hey Brian, thanks for having me back again.

Brian Lehrer (3:43)

First, it seems they made a little news there. Kean took a stand for the first time on an ICE detention center in Roxbury, which for those who don't know, it's North Jersey, it's out along I-80, about 40 miles west of the George Washington Bridge. Give us some background on that. Why did ICE want to put a detention center, or why do they want to put a detention center in Roxbury, which is just a little town of about 23,000 people, about 75 percent white, 15 percent Latino from the stats I've seen. Why there?

Mike Hayes (4:16)

Yeah, Brian, I'll try to be brief here, but this is a messy one. We got to go back to January of this year. The Washington Post obtained this document showing a bunch of locations around the country that the Trump administration wanted to open ICE detention facilities, one of them being in Roxbury. Everything hit the fan almost instantly in Roxbury after that report came out. Locals and activists flooded the town council meetings. The town council came out in opposition to this almost instantly. But fast forward about three weeks after that, I reported that, yes, the owner of this warehouse, Goldman Sachs and a partner were selling it to the Trump administration for more than double of what it's worth. By the way, it's worth about $60 million.