36 Jewish Anti-ICE Protesters Accept Plea Deal
Image by Getty
(JTA) — Thirty-six activists from a Jewish group arrested during a demonstration in front of an Immigration and Customs Enforcement detention center in Elizabeth, New Jersey accepted a plea deal that keeps them out of prison.
The protesters from the Never Again Action organization were arrested on June 30 after blocking the access road to the detention center and refusing to move, according to NJ.com. The group also did not have a permit to gather at the site. Hundreds of Jews, mostly young people, attended the protest.
All 36 activists accepted a plea deal Monday in which they were charged with disturbing the peace and ordered to pay $133 in fines.
“Today, we face criminal charges for blocking the entrance to the Elizabeth Detention Facility which is operated by CoreCivic, a private prison company. But we know the real crimes are the ones being committed every day inside these ICE facilities. The detention of our neighbors in abusive, unlivable facilities like this one should upset all of us. As members of the Jewish community, we’ve seen this system of dehumanization before, and know that it extends well beyond the boundaries of any building,” the protesters said in a statement issued after the hearing.
I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward’s award-winning journalism this Passover.
In this age of misinformation, our work is needed like never before. We report on the news that matters most to American Jews, driven by truth, not ideology.
At a time when newsrooms are closing or cutting back, the Forward has removed its paywall. That means for the first time in our 126-year history, Forward journalism is free to everyone, everywhere. With an ongoing war, rising antisemitism, and a flood of disinformation that may affect the upcoming election, we believe that free and open access to Jewish journalism is imperative.
Readers like you make it all possible. Right now, we’re in the middle of our Passover Pledge Drive and we still need 300 people to step up and make a gift to sustain our trustworthy, independent journalism.
Make a gift of any size and become a Forward member today. You’ll support our mission to tell the American Jewish story fully and fairly.
— Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO
Join our mission to tell the Jewish story fully and fairly.
Only 300 more gifts needed by April 30
