The Legal Aid Society, together with The Bronx Defenders and Brooklyn Defender Services, who are New York City’s defender organizations providing free legal representation to detained immigrants through the New York Immigrant Family Unity Project (NYIFUP), called on New Jersey Governor Phil Murphy to sign a bill that would prohibit future ICE detention contracts.

The Governor has had the bill since June, but his inaction has already resulted in at least one U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement contract for a facility in Elizabeth being extended, as reported by NJ Spotlight News. The new legislation would also prevent current contacts from being extended.

“Our years of experience working on behalf of detained people in these facilities have made clear to us that ending ICE detention is a moral imperative,’’ reads a statement from NYIFUP.

“Not one person needs to be incarcerated during their removal proceedings. ICE detention is inhumane and unjust. It serves no purpose other than to break the spirit, fortitude, and will of people who are exercising their procedural and substantive due process rights to stay in the United States.”