Third Circuit Court of Appeals overturns New Jersey ban on immigration detention center contracts

The Third Circuit Court of Appeals overturned a New Jersey law banning private companies from obtaining contracts with the federal government to run immigration detention centers.

The court ruled 2-1 on Tuesday to allow the prison firm CoreCivic to continue operating New Jersey's Elizabeth Detention Center.

“[J]ust as states cannot regulate the federal government itself, they cannot regulate private parties in a way that severely undercuts a federal function,” Circuit Court Judge Stephanos Bibas, a Trump appointee, wrote in the opinion.

New Jersey "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," she added.

Obama appointee Judge Cheryl Ann Krause joined Bibas in the decision, while Clinton appointee Judge Thomas Ambro dissented.

In February, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement reopened the Delaney Hall facility in Newark under a $1 billion contract with the GEO Group as a private lender, which occurred after the company sued the state over the law that CoreCivic is challenging, The Hill news outlet reported.