Roxbury ICE jail plan takes center stage as Rep. Tom Kean Jr. seeks reelection • New Jersey Monitor

Rep. Tom Kean Jr., already considered one of the most vulnerable congressional Republicans in the coming midterm elections, is drawing bipartisan backlash for his failure to stop federal authorities from buying a massive warehouse in Roxbury intended for a new migrant detention center.

Monday, Kean responded to critics’ complaints by introducing legislation intended to offset the burdensome costs that can strangle municipalities when federal detention facilities come to town.

But the bill only gave critics more fodder for their fury.

Michael Roth, one of the Democrats running to unseat Kean in November, accused him of “trying to save face with a bullsh-t bill.” Brian Varela, another Democrat in the race, called the legislation “theatrics and smokescreen” by a Republican afraid to stand up to President Donald Trump.

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“This is not what the constituents are asking for. What they’re asking for is to not have this facility. They also asked for him to be involved much earlier in the conversation. He can’t come in, after the fact, and put together a piece of legislation that we don’t even know is going to get passed,” Varela said. “He’s trying to walk a very fine line, and he’s not doing a good job at it. This is going to hurt him on all sides and just emboldens the outrage that people are feeling towards his lack of representation.”

Roxbury’s all-Republican council and mayor have fought the detention center for two months.

They did not respond to the New Jersey Monitor’s requests to comment for this story. But they groused in a Friday statement about both Kean and the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, saying they communicated their concerns to “every level of government” that a migrant jail would overwhelm local infrastructure and cost the township millions in property taxes.

“Despite repeated outreach, our federal representative, Congressman Tom Kean Jr., did not engage to the level we had hoped to provide the advocacy our residents deserved. It is also inconceivable and frankly stunning that all of our communications to DHS on issues related to this selection as a detention center were never answered.  This community is the most impacted by this facility, yet we received absolutely no feedback from DHS,” the mayor and six council members said in the joint statement.

Kean declined to comment for this story through spokeswoman Noelle Berriet. But Saturday, he denied criticism and vowed he would find “a workable solution.”

“We worked closely with officials in Roxbury and engaged directly with the highest levels of DHS on their behalf. I understand the frustration and emotion this situation has created,” he wrote on X.

The bill he introduced Monday, dubbed the Local Taxpayer Protection Act, addresses many of Roxbury officials’ concerns, Berriet said. Under the bill, municipalities where immigration jails operate could apply for federal grants to make up for the resulting loss of property taxes and ballooning demands on utilities, public safety, and other local infrastructure.

Roth said the legislation “completely misses the point.”

“The issue here is, first and foremost, a moral issue. The idea of storing human beings in a warehouse is simply unconscionable. Adding some more money for the sewage system is not going to change that,” Roth said.

Trump’s immigration crackdown has become unpopular even among his supporters, including farmers and small business owners whose workers have quit rather than risk being snatched from their workplaces by immigration agents, he added.

Many voters already had soured on Kean for failing to stand up to Trump, hold town halls, or otherwise be accessible, Varela said. Kean’s belated response to the Roxbury migrant jail won’t save him at the ballot box in November, Varela predicted.

“In a district that’s swinging anywhere from one to two points, year after year, this could be the nail in the coffin for Kean and his campaign,” Varela said. “He’s given voters more than enough reasons to not support him. This is just simply adding to the very long dossier of reasons that people are fed up with Tom Kean Jr.”

Two of Kean’s other Democrat rivals piled on.

“He is trying to do a Hail Mary, whatever he can get away with to keep his job without really doing anything significant,” Megan O’Rourke said. “This legislation is too little, too late.”

Rebecca Bennett, the fundraising frontrunner among Kean’s challengers, declined to comment for this story but issued a statement Sunday that said Kean “owes the people of Roxbury an explanation for his silence, his lack of urgency, and his failure to publicly oppose this facility.”

Federal officials have not released a timeline or other details of their plans for the Roxbury jail, a lack of information that fueled community concerns and protests.

Township officials provided some answers Friday when they confirmed that the feds bought the 470,000-square-foot warehouse on Route 46 from Dalfen Industrial, even though Roxbury offered $20 million in tax abatements to redevelop the warehouse site for uses besides immigrant detention.

It remains unclear, though, if a migrant jail in Roxbury will definitely open.

Department of Homeland Security officials have backpedaled elsewhere amid growing public backlash, with New Hampshire Gov. Kelly Ayotte, a Republican, announcing Tuesday that the feds abandoned plans to open a migrant jail in her state.