Immigrant rights groups protest in Philly to defend New Jersey ban on migrant-detention contracts

About 150 people from about 40 pro-immigrant groups from Pennsylvania, New Jersey, and New York gathered on the sidewalk outside the federal courthouse in Philadelphia on Thursday, while on the 19th floor the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit began considering a case with potentially wide ramifications. The appeals court began to consider whether to fully restore a New Jersey state ban on immigration-detention contracts. The case is being heard as New Jersey, home to a single detention center, could potentially see three more open within months or years.