NJ congresswoman-elect pledges to fight Trump plan for Roxbury migrant jail

Three days after voters in the reliably Republican township of Roxbury supported Democrats in the midterm elections, New Jersey Attorney General Jennifer Davenport told a federal judge that the Trump administration for the first time confirmed to state officials that it plans to move forward with a controversial migrant detention center in the Morris County town.

The news brought fresh condemnation from Rebecca Bennett, a Democrat who was elected last week to represent the 7th Congressional District, which includes Roxbury. Bennett, who unseated GOP Rep. Tom Kean Jr. in the state’s most closely watched House race, blasted the feds for proceeding with the “unwanted” jail despite opposition, and she vowed to work with Gov. Mikie Sherrill (D) and state and local lawmakers to fight it.

“Since February, I’ve stood with local residents, including Roxbury’s Republican-led town council, against Trump’s plan to open an ICE detention center in Roxbury,” Bennett said in a statement. “This week, voters spoke loud and clear: Washington should be focused on lowering costs, ending corruption, and making sure that everyone feels safe in their community.”

The U.S. Department of Homeland Security in February purchased the Roxbury site, a 470,000-square-foot warehouse it wants to convert into a processing center for detained migrants, for $129 million. The Sherrill administration and Roxbury’s GOP-leadership sued in March to stop the plan, and in May succeeded in putting a temporary hold on it. The Trump administration has gone back-and-forth in subsequent court filings about whether the plan is moving forward.

New Jersey Attorney General Jen Davenport told Judges Jamel K. Semper and James B. Clark III, in a status report filed Friday night, that the Trump administration “advised Plaintiffs for the first time that DHS had decided to proceed with pursuing a detention facility at the Roxbury site.”

Homeland Security officials also have acknowledged that they used the warehouse parking lot twice in September to process people that immigrants agents had arrested, Davenport added. Such conduct “raises concerns about DHS’s willingness to skirt the boundaries” of the May court order that put a temporary pause on their detention center plan.

The plan was a campaign issue in Bennett’s bid to unseat Kean, with Bennett criticizing Kean for staying largely silent on the president’s push to place a migrant detention center in the 7th District. It may have helped move Roxbury, a Republican stronghold, to the Democrats’ column on Election Day.

Bennett won 51% of Roxbury’s vote this year, compared to 48% for Kean. Two years ago, Kean won the town with 58% of the vote. Roxbury, which voted for President Donald Trump during all three of his White House bids, also voted narrowly last week for U.S. Sen Cory Booker (D) over Republican challenger Justin Murphy. When Booker last sought reelection in 2020, most Roxbury voters cast ballots for his Republican opponent.

Republicans make up 38% of Roxbury’s nearly 19,000 voters, compared to Democrats’ 26%, with unaffiliated and third-party voters comprising the rest, registration data shows.