24th Annual Unitarian Universalist Outreach Auction of Bergen County
Saturday, December 7, 2024, 7:00pm thru Saturday, December 14, 7:00pm (Virtual)Northern NJ Sanctuary Coalition is one of the charities benefiting from this AuctionThe Unitarian Universalist Annual Outreach Auction of Bergen County was dedicated to supporting Bergen County non-profit organizations that fulfill basic life needs. Since 2000, the gala event has raised over $760,000. 100% of the proceeds from the auction went to local charities. The virtual auction featured a robust silent auction catalog, as well as the option to donate directly to the charitiesKickoff: Saturday, December 07, 2024 @7:00pmFor more information and to register for the auction go to:https://charityauction.bid/uuoutreachauction2024
Our annual gala was held on Sunday, September 22, 2024 at La Neve’s Banquet Hall in Haledon, NJ, from 4 pm -7 pm. We honored and heard from Dr. Allen Keller, Founder of Bellevue/NYU Program for Survivors of Torture and Associate Professor of Medicine at NYU School of Medicine. Dr. Keller was introduced by Joe Chuman, founder of NNJSC, who was in part inspired to start NNJSC by Dr. Keller’s work. The Peace Poets performed. Thanks to everyone who donated and attended the dinner!
In an effort to work more closely with other groups dedicated to supporting asylum seekers, members of the Northern New Jersey Sanctuary Coalition joined with members of Pax Christi NJ, First Friends NY/NJ, and other organizations to form the Interfaith Campaign for Just Closures. The primary goals of this initiative include the following: ending the I.C.E. detention programs at New Jersey detention centers; through peaceful demonstrations held outside detention centers, bringing greater attention to the conditions within these centers where asylum seekers were/are being held; urging politicians to support the “New Way Forward” Act and to end Title 42, a Trump initiative that banned asylum seekers from having a chance to apply for asylum, but instead barring them from the country; focusing on the rightness of “releases, not transfers” of those asylum seekers in centers that are closing; staying in touch with those transferred from one detention center to another, often in several states away from New Jersey (Georgia, Maine, Louisiana, Alabama), often in the middle of the night, and often not being allowed to take any of their personal possessions, including papers essential to their immigration cases. To date, three (Bergen, Essex and Hudson) of the four New Jersey I.C.E. contracted detention centers no longer house asylum seekers. The Elizabeth Detention Center, operated through a private, for-profit company, CoreCivic, remains open. It has been the site of three peaceful demonstrations. On Saturday, December 10, 2022, another demonstration was held in downtown Elizabeth, again to bring attention to the presence of and conditions in the Elizabeth County Jail. The Interfaith Campaign for Just Closures continues to work with members of the New Jersey Alliance for Immigrant Justice, American Friends Service Committee, New Jersey Institute for Social Justice, Church World Service and other organizations to support those seeking asylum. Ultimately, the Interfaith Campaign for Just Closures focuses on encouraging New Jersey’s congressional delegation to support HR 536, which would reform the immigration laws of the United States, thereby providing acceptance, support and dignity to and for those seeking asylum in our country.
November 2021
Rally outside the Elizabeth Detention Center to release asylum applicants.
Forming a new group, N.J.’s immigrant advocates fight for release of migrant detainees
The recent renewal of a contract between an Elizabeth detention center and ICE angered immigrant advocates. (Photo by Karen Ducey/Getty Images)
A Bergen County detainee who was woken up in the middle of the night to be flown to Arizona. A Haitian migrant who was transferred from detention center to detention center seven times over four years. An Essex County resident who was detained while his wife was pregnant, and didn’t meet his child for two years. A coalition of advocates is shining a light on the stories of undocumented immigrants who suffered while imprisoned in New Jersey’s immigration detention facilities, part of an effort to urge support for ending immigrant detainee transfers and for an overhaul for federal immigration laws. “We have seen how families have been ripped apart, especially in the last few months once Essex County announced they would be depopulating their ICE unit,” said Jackie Zapata with Friends First of NJ & NY. “Our friends who called New Jersey their home were transferred to faraway states, far away from their communities, families, and legal resources.” Gov. Phil Murphy signed a law last month banning state, county, and local detention centers from entering into or renewing contracts to hold immigrant detainees. Now, as the detention centers empty, activists are pushing for more prisoners to be released rather than transferred to other locations. Activists are concerned that, as has happened in the past, detainees will be moved to states on the other side of the country, leaving their families to wonder where they are for weeks, if not months. Some of them view the long-distance transfers as retaliation from the immigration agency. Now the coalition of faith leaders, advocates, formerly incarcerated people, and their family members have formed the Interfaith Campaign for Just Closures. The group aims to push New Jersey’s congressional delegation to support HR 536, which would revamp the immigration detention system. The bill would bar the Department of Homeland Security from entering and renewing contracts to operate detention centers, remove mandatory detention for certain migrants like asylum seekers, and prohibit state and local officers from apprehending immigrants. It’s supported by just one New Jersey representative, Rep. Bonnie Watson Coleman (D-12), and has not been introduced in the Senate. “Senator Booker, (who) considers himself a champion for criminal justice reform and immigration issues, would be a great candidate to introduce this bill. Senator Menendez is a champion of immigrant rights issues for so many years, and should be a leading voice in the Senate for HR 536,” said Carlos Rojas Rodriguez, an organizer with Movimiento Cosecha. Menendez has referred to ICE contracts as “blood money” for counties and states, alluding to the revenue that pours into local coffers from the federal agency.
U.S. Sen. Bob Menendez has previously condemned New Jersey officials for continuing contracts with ICE. (Photo by Tasos Katopodis/Getty Images)
Last week, the senators released a statement urging ICE to end out-of-state transfers for detainees, and requesting all detainees who do not fall “under the current enforcement prioritization scheme” to be released. “Not only do transfers expose detainees to COVID-19, but they also threaten the physical, mental, and emotional health of detained individuals. Any form of detention is a traumatic experience, especially among immigrant detainees who are more likely to experience anxiety, depression, and post-traumatic stress disorder both during and after detention than the general population,” they said in a letter to ICE officials. Zapata said the statement doesn’t go far enough. All detainees should be released, she said, rather than leaving it up to ICE to decide who is a priority and who isn’t.
“This shows how harsh our current system is”
During an event Thursday, the faith leaders, advocates, and family members of detainees shared powerful tales of loved ones traumatized by detention. Zapata told the story of an undocumented man who lost 52 pounds after he was transferred from Essex County Jail to a Nevada prison. He was finally released, then met his 2-year-old daughter, who was born while he was jailed, she said. “If that’s not a way of playing with someone’s life, I don’t know what is. This shows how harsh our current system is,” she said. Bia Kamara spoke about his son, Alex, an asylum seeker from Sierra Leone who was detained in 2019 in North Jersey. He was transferred to Arizona, then Miami, where he’s currently being held, and faces deportation to the country he tried to escape. “Don’t even consider sending him to Sierra Leone, because that will be as good as sending him to his death bed. There’s nobody there he knows, he doesn’t know where to start — you put him there and it’s taking a fish out of water and putting the fish on dry land,” Kamara said. Though Essex County has emptied its jail of detainees and Hudson County said it intends to do the same, there are no similar plans for Bergen County Jail, which remains home to 25 immigrant detainees largely from New York. The county has an indefinite contract with ICE, and advocates are pressing Bergen officials to sever it. The county brings in $120 per detainee daily from ICE.
The number of immigrant detainees at the Bergen County Jail has dwindled to about 25. (Courtesy of Bergen County)“In a blue county in a blue state, there’s nobody that the county commissioners and sheriffs can blame other than themselves,” said Jon Moscow, co-chair of Northern NJ Sanctuary Coalition. “They seem to deflect responsibility to each other.”
Moscow said one of the goals of the new group is to continue to pressure officials to close the state’s last publicly-run immigrant holding center.“The reality is this is a Democrat’s state,” said Moscow. “If Governor Murphy, Senator Booker, Senator Menendez, our congressional representatives unite and say it’s time for this to end, and the way to end it is not transfers, but going back to their community, it would happen.”
Northern New Jersey Sanctuary CoalitionWe support the urgent calls for just closures of ICE detention centers and creation of a humane immigration system that welcomes newcomers. We especially call for the permanent closure of all detention centers in New Jersey, including the Bergen Jail. People belong in #CommunitiesNotCages we call for #ReleasesNotTransfers.Jon Moscow, Co-Chair
August 24, 2021
Press Statement:
New Jersey Becomes 4th State to Limit, Ban ICE Detention Statewide
Immigrants, Advocates, Attorneys Celebrate Law Banning New ICE Detention Contracts
New Jersey becomes 4th state to limit or ban ICE detention contracts after Governor Murphy signed S3361/A5207 that would ban new, renewal, and extensions of ICE detention contracts
Newark, NJ — Monday, August 23rd, 2021 — On Friday, New Jersey became the fourth state to limit or ban Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) detention contracts joining California, Illinois, and Washington State after Governor Murphy signed S3361/A5207. Under the new ban, which took place immediately upon signature, public or private entities are prohibited from entering into new ICE detention contracts and prohibited from renewing and extending current ICE detention contracts in New Jersey.
Civil rights advocates, faith and community leaders called on local and federal officials to ensure the release of individuals currently detained in ICE detention facilities and thanked Governor Murphy for signing the bill.
Ami Kachalia, Campaign Strategist with ACLU-NJ said,
“Today, New Jersey sent a firm message that we refuse to be complicit in ICE’s cruelty, and made clear that we cannot allow our communities to suffer the indignities of immigration detention. With this monumental step, New Jersey demonstrates its commitment to the national movement to end the mass detention of noncitizens.”
Rabbi Joel N. Abraham, Board Secretary of Faith in New Jersey said,
“Joseph was forgotten in his prison, but on his release, he saved the whole nation. We are a country of immigrants. It is not only a moral failure to imprison those whose only “crime” is to want a better life for themselves and their families, but we forget that those who have come here are choosing blessing over curse, not just for themselves, but for all of us. When we choose justice and compassion, we not only improve the lives of others but of our whole polity. May this legislation be the next step toward liberation.”
Giselle Holloway, Executive Director of First Friends of NJ & NY said,
“We are grateful to Governor Murphy for signing the anti-detention bill—a bold and historic step toward making New Jersey a fair and inclusive state for everyone including immigrants. However, this bill does not affect the current contracts in Bergen and Hudson counties and in Elizabeth. Therefore, much work still needs to be done to advocate for releases, humane conditions, and alternatives to detention not only in New Jersey but across the country.”
Jon Moscow, Co-Chair, Northern NJ Sanctuary Coalition said,
“(The) Northern NJ Sanctuary Coalition, composed of 10 cross-denominational faith-based congregations and organizations, welcomes Gov. Murphy’s long-overdue action in signing the anti-detention bill into law. We call on New Jersey and federal elected officials now to take all possible steps to close existing ICE detention centers. We strongly urge Bergen County Sheriff Anthony Cureton and the Bergen County Commissioners to immediately exercise their power to end the Bergen County Jail ICE contract. Most importantly, detained immigrants must be released, not transferred to sites away from their families and attorneys. #ReleasesNotTransfers.”
Abire Sabbagh, Community Engagement Coordinator with the Palestinian American Community Center (PACC) said,
“We are excited and relieved that the Anti-Detention Bill has finally been signed and will now be put into action! To us, this win symbolizes the strength of community, coalition building, and solidarity networks. We are one step closer towards holistic rights for all immigrant communities, and are so grateful to and inspired by all those who put in hours of work to make this happen.”
Board of Trustees for 2021
NEW FUNDRAISER EVENT
July 12, 2021
“Caged in Cyber Prison”: New Report Sheds Light on Harms of Federal Government’s Shackling of Immigrants
In new study, hundreds of immigrants reveal how electronic ankle shackling is experienced as another form of detention
WASHINGTON, D.C. – The federal government’s use of electronic ankle “monitoring,” or shackling, subjects immigrants to many of the same harms as incarceration and is experienced as another form of detention, according to a new report from Freedom for Immigrants, Immigrant Defense Project and the Benjamin N. Cardozo School of Law.
The newly released report, “Immigration Cyber Prisons: Ending the Use of Electronic Ankle Shackles,” leverages surveys of approximately 150 immigrants subject to shackling, data from immigration legal service providers related to nearly 1,000 cases, and qualitative interviews with immigrants subject to shackling. The result is the first empirical study to document the nature and scale of the harms, racial disparities and lack of efficacy of ICE’s massive electronic shackling program.
The report finds that immigrants subject to shackling by ICE endure many of the same devastating impacts on their physical and mental health that are experienced in physical prisons. Shackling also leads to other degrading harms associated with the invisible cell walls of shackles, including social isolation and employer discrimination, and these effects ripple through families and entire communities. Moreover, just as Black immigrants are subject to higher rates of abuse throughout the rest of the immigration detention system, Black immigrants are disproportionately subject to shackling by ICE.
The report is based on the lived experiences of hundreds of immigrants burdened by shackling and features the voices of people impacted by ICE surveillance. “Even though I was released, I still feel caged in a cyber prison,” reported one immigrant who was subject to months of shackling. “Shackles are completely inhumane and both physically and emotionally degrading,” recalled another individual in the report’s survey.
Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) is currently subjecting more than 31,000 people to ankle shackling through its Intensive Supervision Assistance Program, or ISAP, which was originally sold by ICE as a humane alternative to physical prisons. However, in addition to revealing the severe consequences of shackling, data from the report suggests that individuals with legal counsel and community support services appeared in court at similar and sometimes higher rates than individuals subject to shackling.
“Shackling is an abusive and pervasive extension of the immigration detention system––a system that’s rooted in racism and xenophobia,” said Layla Razavi, deputy executive director of Freedom for Immigrants. “Whether immigrants are confined inside a jail cell in an immigration detention center or placed on electronic surveillance using an ankle shackle, detention deprives immigrants of their rights and human dignity. Our report makes clear the urgent need to end the detention of immigrants in all forms and underscores why viable solutions to ending this cruel system will not be made by ICE.”
“ICE’s reliance on electronic shackles, in addition to other troubling technologies that use facial recognition, enables ICE to track immigrants in real time—expanding ICE’s reach and power within communities and over the individuals it puts under constant surveillance,” said Mizue Aizeki, interim executive director of the Immigrant Defense Project. “ICE’s practices cause deep harm. The responsible path forward is ending the detention and deportation system.”
“There are profound harms associated with shackling and instead of reducing detention, ICE’s shackling program has been used to confine people who would previously have been at liberty,” said Alisa Whitfield, clinical teaching fellow at the Kathryn O. Greenberg Immigration Justice Clinic at the Benjamin N. Cardozo School of Law. “The data show that people offered legal counsel and supportive services—like medical and mental health care, housing and employment assistance, and language access support—appear in immigration courts at equivalent, if not higher, rates than those who are shackled by ICE.”
Key findings of the report’s research include:
9 in 10 surveyed individuals experienced harm to their physical health––ranging from discomfort to aggravating life-threatening symptoms of conditions like diabetes
1 in 5 experienced electric shocks
88% of survey participants reported the shackles harmed their mental health, including an alarming 12% who reported suicidal thoughts
Virtually everyone (97%) reported experiencing social isolation
78% of respondents reported financial hardship as a result of ankle shackling, including over two-thirds of respondents who reported that they lost or had difficulty obtaining work as a result of their electronic ankle shackle
74% of respondents reported that the shackle hindered their ability to care for their family and community
Black immigrants were represented in the shackled cohort at more than twice the rate of their representation in the non-shackled cohort
Shackling is no more effective at ensuring court appearance than holistic approaches, such as access to legal representation and non-coercive community support services, rendering it unnecessary for its stated purpose
The report concludes that the Biden-Harris administration should begin to wind down shackling, and the immigration detention system as a whole, in favor of community support programming. Congress is currently in the process of markups on the fiscal year 2022 budget appropriations bills, the drafts of which include renewed funding for ICE detention beds and shackles at roughly equal rates to the 2021 budget.
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Kathryn O. Greenberg Immigration Justice Clinic at the Benjamin N. Cardozo School of Law is a law school clinic that works to improve access to justice for immigrants through individual representation and transformative law reform initiatives, while simultaneously training the next generation of exceptional immigrant advocates. https://cardozo.yu.edu/clinics-professionalskills/clinics/kathryn-o-greenberg-immigration-justice-clinic
Freedom for Immigrants is a national 501(c)3 nonprofit devoted to abolishing immigration detention, while ending the isolation of people currently suffering in this profit-driven system. We monitor the human rights abuses faced by immigrants detained by ICE through a national hotline and network of volunteer detention visitors, while also modeling a community-based alternative to detention that welcomes immigrants into the social fabric of the United States. Through these windows into the system, we gather data and stories to combat injustice at the individual level and push systemic change. https://www.freedomforimmigrants.org
The Immigrant Defense Project (IDP) was founded over 20 years ago to combat an emerging human rights crisis: the targeting of immigrants for mass imprisonment and deportation. As this crisis has continued to escalate, IDP has remained steadfast in fighting for fairness and justice for all immigrants caught at the intersection of the racially biased U.S. criminal and immigration systems. IDP fights to end the current era of unprecedented mass criminalization, detention and deportation through a multipronged strategy including advocacy, litigation, legal advice and training, community defense, grassroots alliances, and strategic communications.
Contact: Jeff Migliozzi, jmigliozzi@freedomforimmigrants.org, (323) 579-1506
June 8, 2021The Northern NJ Sanctuary Coalition Calls on Elected Officials for Action to Release, not Transfer The Northern New Jersey Sanctuary Coalition (NNJSC) called today for the Biden Administration to adopt a policy of #ReleasesNotTransfers for immigrants in ICE detention and for NJ elected officials at all levels to use their power to assure the release of detainees. NNJSC Chair Sally Cummings said, “It is time for President Biden to act definitively. Senators Menendez and Booker must follow up on their statements calling for an end to ICE detention in New Jersey. It is long past time for Sheriff Anthony Cureton and the Bergen County Board of Commissioners to end the ICE contract, while assuring that detainees be released, not transferred elsewhere.” The renewed call came in the wake of the arrest of 14 demonstrators from immigrant rights organizations for allegedly blocking an ICE van leaving the Bergen County Jail. The NNJSC sharply criticized what appears to be excessive force by officers and excessive charges against the demonstrators. NNJSC Co-chair Jon Moscow said, “The solution to these confrontations is not high-powered use of police power against demonstrators. It is for the government at all levels to do the right thing and release detained immigrants to the community.”
INAUGURAL WEBINAR IN “STORIES OF HUMANITY” SERIES – 2021
From Scratch: What I learned While Hunting, Fishing, and Harvesting Meals Around the World.
Join us on Sunday, May 23 at 7:00 pm as we enjoy the fascinating stories of From Scratch actor/producer/adventurer David Moscow. David goes around the world meeting chefs and recreating their signature dishes – diving, hunting and foraging for ingredients while exploring local culture and exposing the passion, artisanship and hard work that chefs bring to the table.
NEWLY ELECTED BOARD MEMBERS FOR 2019-
3 members not shown
Elizabeth Ames accepting the Luis Merlo Social Justice Award being awarded to the NNJSC by The MLK Birthday Observance Committee for promoting Dr. King’s dream of equality for all.
visiting NYBG Train Show with former NNJSC client (who asked not to be shown).
NNJSC DINNER FLYER 2019
Congratulations to our former client, Jackson Thomas Kodyan, on his recent marriage! We wish you many happy years together.
Our former client, Mouhammad Ahmed, who is in the U.S. with his wife and 4 children, 2 of whom are American citizens, recently gained US citizenship for himself.
July 2017 Congratulations!
Congratulations are in order for our recent client, PL, who came to our attention just a little over a year ago. His story at that time appears on this website under Asylee Stories. A volunteer host helped by housing him, and we provided small amounts of cash for personal expenses. PL quickly found volunteer and then paid jobs teaching several courses in mathematics at both Seton Hall U. and at Guttman Community College, a branch of CUNY, in Manhattan. He recently found housing on his own, so even though he is still awaiting his asylum hearings, he is completely independent of our aid and is a productive worker and wonderful addition to our society after an amazingly short period of time. Elizabeth D. Ames, M.D.
Celebrating 1 Year Anniversary Of Host-Client Relationship, May 2017 (Client Now Functioning Independently of NNJSC)
lt. to rt.: Host, Elizabeth Ames (NNJSC president), Sally Pillay (NNJSC board member and Director of First Friends of NJ & NY, client, daughter of host (responsible for party)
lt. to rt.: front row, client, host; back row, friends of client
Client treats host turning 90 to a birthday party!
______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ CONGRATULATIONS to Jean-Gratien (Member at Large) and wife Nalliely on the birth of daughter XOCHITL.
Congratulations, YD, Upon Obtaining Asylum on January 10, 2017!
Mention of NNJSC made in Dec. 24 article excerpted here:
With calling and purpose, faith groups help refugeesHannan Adely and Patricia Alex , NorthJersey 11:22 a.m. EST December 24, 2016 ….. Other faith groups work with asylum seekers — those who have arrived in the United States without refugee status and who often wind up in the federal detention center in Elizabeth. The Teaneck-based Northern New Jersey Sanctuary Coalition recently has worked with asylum seekers from South Sudan, Eritrea, Somalia, Yemen and Ethiopia. The group includes Unitarian and Episcopal churches, the Ethical Culture Society, a mosque and a conservative Jewish group. The group provides stipends, logistical and legal help, visits and shelter to those seeking asylum for political and religious reasons. Dr. Elizabeth Ames, the president of the group, got involved through her congregation, the Unitarian Society of Ridgewood. Ames, a retired physician, previously housed an asylum seeker from Darfur in her home. “I’ve always wanted to help in some way,” she said. She detailed the harrowing journeys many have made — one coming from Eritrea via South America and the Mexican border. “These people have a heck of a lot of gumption,” Ames said. “This work with asylees has been so mind opening.” …….
January, 2016
During the 2015 year, the Bergen County Sanctuary Committee changed its name to the Northern NewJersey Sanctuary Coalition. We remain a 501(c)(3) charitable organization… Read more
Northern New Jersey Sanctuary Coalition – P.O. Box 5017, Caldwell, NJ 07006
Board of Trustees for 2021 
lt. to rt.: Host, Elizabeth Ames (NNJSC president), Sally Pillay (NNJSC board member and Director of First Friends of NJ & NY, client, daughter of host (responsible for party)
______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ CONGRATULATIONS to Jean-Gratien (Member at Large) and wife Nalliely on the birth of daughter XOCHITL. 
