(CN) - New Jersey cannot ban private prison companies from housing immigrants for U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, a Third Circuit panel ruled Tuesday.
The court's decision invalidates AB 5207, a New Jersey law passed in 2021 banning new contracts for detainment facilities holding people with civil immigration violations.
That law prevented national private prison company CoreCivic from renewing its contract in 2023 with ICE to hold immigrants in its Elizabeth Detention Center, which it had run since 1996.
In response, CoreCivic sued New Jersey, claiming AB 5207 unconstitutionally conflicted with federal law. A New Jersey federal judge granted CoreCivic summary judgment in 2023, and New Jersey promptly appealed.
However, a Third Circuit panel ultimately sided with CoreCivic as well, ruling that New Jersey overstepped its authority by limiting the federal government's ability to act within its reach.
"New Jersey is on the wrong side of that line," wrote U.S. Circuit Judge Stephanos Bibas, a first-term Donald Trump appointee, on behalf of the panel. "It dislikes some of the federal government's immigration tools, so it passed a law with the 'intent' to forbid new contracts for civil immigration detention. That law interferes with the federal government's core power to enforce immigration laws."
While the law does not regulate federal action, Bibas wrote, it functionally prevents the federal government from enforcing its powers.
"It just so happens that AB 5207 has the exact same effect as a state law that bars the federal government from contracting for private immigration services," Bibas wrote. "But New Jersey says this does not matter. The direct-regulation prong does not concern itself with effects, the state says, even if functionally AB 5207 directly restricts federal power or substantially interferes with federal operations."
"But it is wrong," Bibas continued. "AB 5207 carries the same sting as a law whose text applies expressly to the federal government."
By banning private parties from selling immigration detention services - of which the federal government is the only potential buyer - AB 5207 effectively "destroys the federal government's marketplace" via unlawful direct regulation, Bibas ruled.
Furthermore, Bibas added, banning the federal government's ability to seek such a contract in such a way presents "a big step down a slippery slope" that would allow all states to ban federal contractors from building weapons for the U.S. military, crippling national defense.
U.S. Circuit Judge Cheryl Ann Krause, a Barack Obama appointee, ruled alongside Bibas, while the third panel member - U.S. Circuit Judge Thomas L. Ambro, a Bill Clinton appointee - dissented.
Following the Third Circuit ruling, CoreCivic's senior director of public affairs, Ryan Gustin, championed the court's decision.
"We appreciate that we've had the opportunity to present our positions to the courts and are grateful to the Third Circuit Court of Appeals for reaffirming the federal government's discretion to rely on the Elizabeth Detention Center to support its vital mission," Gustin told Courthouse News.
As for-profit private prisons house over 85% of individuals detained by ICE, CoreCivic plays a critical role in U.S. immigration enforcement - a role that has increased since the beginning of President Donald Trump's second term.
In February, CoreCivic announced it had penned a deal with ICE to accommodate up to 784 additional detainees across facilities in Mississippi, Nevada, Ohio and Oklahoma.
That same month, CoreCivic began efforts to reopen a shuttered prison in Leavenworth, Kansas, as a dedicated ICE detention center that could hold over 1,000 detainees. City leaders and local activists alike have vocally opposed CoreCivic's plan, and a temporary injunction currently prohibits the facility from reopening as court proceedings continue.
As detainment capacity for immigrants living in the U.S. without permission increases, so, too, have federal efforts to arrest such immigrants. ICE agents arrested approximately 30,000 immigrants in June alone, according to agency data. This followed the Trump administration's implementation of a 3,000-per-day immigrant arrest quota announced in late May.
Additionally, the U.S. Border Patrol - which has typically deployed nearly all of its agents to the southern border surrounding Mexico - has massively expanded its scope under the Trump administration.
By law, Border Patrol agents can operate within 100 miles of any U.S. border, including coastlines - granting the agency access to over two-thirds of the nation's population.
From New York City courthouses to Sacramento parking lots, the Trump administration has increasingly used Border Patrol agents to execute arrests of immigrants.
And on July 7, heavily armed Border Patrol agents swarmed Los Angeles' MacArthur Park on foot, on horseback and in military-style vehicles in an apparent show of force.
"Better get used to us now, because this is going to be normal very soon," Border Patrol official Gregory Bovino told Fox News following the MacArthur Park deployment. "We will go anywhere, anytime we want in Los Angeles."
Source: Courthouse News Service
