Tonight on NJ PBS news.

The battle over immigration heating up yet agai here in new Jersey, with emails revealing that federal officials have used a massive Morris County facilit to process detainees, possibly violating a federal court order.

Activists and lawmakers are blasting the news and vowing to fight back.

So where does the legal drama over the Roxbury facility go from here?

Pope Leo on the men tonight after the Vatican announced the pontiff underwent surgery for lung cancer.

As Catholics around the world pray for the first ever American pope.

We talked to a local cancer expert about the surgery, the prognosis, and what life means now for one of the world's most revered leaders.

Bear hunting season is no officially underway in Jersey, with new stats showing a big jump in bear encounters so far this year.

We talk with a new Jersey wildlife official about the start of the season.

How many bears have been harvested so far?

And smart tips on what to do if you and a bear.

Cross paths NJ PBS news starts now.

This is NJ PBS news with Rob Nelson.

Well, the legal drama continues to deepen tonight over how the feds are using a Morris County facility for immigration enforcement.

New emails revealed Tuesday show that Ice agent brought detainees to the parking lot of a Roxbury warehouse for initial processing on two occasions last month.

I says the detainees, excuse me, were not taken inside the building, but now state officials are examining whether the use of that property at all violated a federal court order that blocks its conversion into a detention center until there's an environmental review.

An idea Morsi, director of Make the Road, New Jersey.

Joining us now for more on this.

This really was, big news to drop.

And I say that because one immigration issue here in new Jersey has been a hot button topic for a number of months.

But there have been rumors swirling about Roxbury for weeks and weeks.

Activists were fired up, taking videos, submitting evidence.

The AG launche an investigation, the state AG.

And then finally, through these emails, we learned that yes, some activity did did take place there.

What was your initial reaction?

And do you believe that the feds violated that court order?

I think first, as you know, there's a broader conversation to be had about how.

Ice and DHS cannot be reformed.

They were explicitly told not to operate, and they violated that court order.

And secondly, you know, we oppose detention full stop.

And a warehouse is not where you house human beings.

It is a place for supplies and not for people.

So, you know, the state has taken, as you mentioned, steps to slow dow the movement of the Roxbury jail and now has a responsibility and to force the issue and court, and to, you know, physically stop access to the facility until there is come to a resolution.

The last thing I want to flag is, it behooves us to remember that this is exactly how Delaney Hall started.

No, sir.

No.

Inspections opened quietly.

Had it not been for volunteers who were monitoring outside of the facility, it would not have even come to light that people were bein housed, inside of Delaney Hall.

And listen, consider considering everything the title of the Delaney Hall.

That is incredibly important context in all of this.

And for folks who have not been following this closely, this is a nearly hal 1,000,000 square foot facility.

Near multiple immigrant heavy communities there in the Roxbury area.

And the feds did purchased the building for more than 100 million bucks to build a 1500 person detention center.

That was the plan.

There was extreme pushback by residents.

And then federal judge jumped in in May and said, you can't do what you want to do there until this environmental assessment takes place.

And that's kind of where where we are.

And now we learned that there has been activity.

I know this is in the weeds a little bit, but in terms of violating that court order, I get the sense that ISIS position this is that well, we were doing this in the parking lot, not inside the facility as a way to maybe work around the language of that order.

What what do you make of that posture?

Consistently, Ice uses loopholes in order to circumvent the court syste that we are all accountable to.

We have seen how their reports coming out that just like you saying about how Ice claiming that they are using the parking lot only that Ice agents have also traveled with full vans so that they do not have to, you know, they they can circumvent, waiting times.

So, you know, right now, the Trump administration, since its very beginnings, has seen new Jersey as detention ground zero with the opening of Delaney Hall.

New Jersey has the most ice attentio beds on the entire East coast.

And with Roxbury, that number would more than triple in one, in one swoop.

And so the the opening of Roxbury, the potential opening of Roxbury is a concern not just for new Jersey residents, but for people all across the country, because what is being piloted here and the creativit with which the administration is operating is what they will pilot all across the country.

So let me ask you this.

I mean, just to to be honest here the Trump administration has a, a checkere record when it comes to actually abiding by a court order.

Sometimes they just plow right through them and do what they want.

Other times they abide.

But even if a judge finds that there was a violation of a court order here because of the activity in the parking lot there at Roxbury, what does that ultimately mean to you?

Where does it go from here in terms of wha you and your group want to see?

Because a violation of a cour order doesn't necessarily mean that things will will change.

It's, you know, how is it possible that a lot is in a process?

People?

This is part of a, you know, a larger effort of the Trump administration's, you know, propagand to other black and brown people.

There is a normalization of how it is that we are certain communities, you know, what we want to see is this agency to be defunded at every dollar that is being put into, setting up the warehouse.

Processing people in parking lots is money that has been taken awa from Snap benefits and Medicaid benefits, which will have drastic impacts come.

But every dollar taken awa from people that are struggling to make it t the end of the month is a dollar that has been put into this, these kangaroo courts and these nonsense warehouses that are incredibly violent.

And we have a responsibility as a country to make sure that not one more dollar of our taxpayer hard earned money is going into, a rogue agency.

It had seemed very briefly that the immigration issue had died down somewha after kind of reaching a height after what we saw happen in Minneapolis.

And then things seem to get a little bit quieter.

And now just here in Jersey alone, we had Mr.

Soto get out of Delaney Hall.

We have the congresswoman who got arrested there.

That case took a legal step forward.

Now we're learning about, Roxbury.

We had a man shot by ice in upper Manhattan.

We had the case in Harrison.

That video where you're watching kids cling to their relative as he's taken away by ice.

Are you getting a sense that this issue weeks ahead of the midterms is is reemerging in a way that is activating activists yet again?

I mean, I think the.

The, the truer story is that it has been going on this whole time.

In the last year alone, immigration arrests in the.

State have gone up 600%.

But the videos that you and I have seen have become painfully more normal.

I do think that there is an effort to create a lot of fear ahead of the elections, and to motivate peopl to stay inside, to stay indoors, not not only out of concern for their immigration status, but because of the color of their skin.

We have seen that the Ice agencies have some of the most comprehensive technology, are investing billions of dollars into Palantir and the software company, and it's how we're seeing that U.S.

citizens are being detained because the AI software that they use is not perfect.

No, AI software is, and so there is an effort to worry people and scare them into staying home ahead of them in terms.

And voter suppressio comes in many different forms.

This is one of those.

And the director of Make the Road, New Jersey, thank you for giving us some time.

It's a very active news cycle around immigration in our in our state, and we're trying to have as many serious conversations about that as possible here on our newscast.

So standing invitatio to come back as things develop.

And thanks for your time tonight.

Thank you for your time.

A year and a half into his papacy, Pope Leo, the first ever American pope, is now facing a serious health challenge after undergoing surgery for lung cancer.

Over the weekend, he told the world he was having a procedure to remove a nodule from his lung.

Doctors findings during surgery that the growth was indeed cancerous and then removing part of the pope's right lung.

He continues to recover tonight.

As Catholics around the world wonder exactly what this means for their leader.

Tonight we are joined by Doctor Miguel Gonzalez Vélez, a thoracic oncologist.

Doctor, thank you so much for for giving us some time on a very serious issue here.

The news did catch people, a little off guard.

We knew there was a procedure but then we found out yesterday, of course, that indeed was was lung cancer.

Talk a little bi about what the recovery is like.

And if that recovery changes with someone of the Pope's age, which is 71.

Happy to be here.

Yes.

The recovery time for this type of surgery and the technical name for the surgery is right to me, which mean that they took a portion of the of the right lung.

In general, it takes about 2 to 3 weeks.

71 years old is relatively the average age for this type of procedures.

And with the fact that the Pop never smoked under the surgery went well, it should recover relatively fast.

And I'm glad you mentioned that, because most people, rightfully so, they hear lung cancer and they think of someone who is a cigarette smoker or some other kind of smoker.

The Pope was not.

So what's a cause or the most common cause of thi kind of cancer for nonsmokers?

Yes, there is very important to know that the usual stigma or the usual idea that only smokers get lung cancer is not true.

About 20 to 25% of lung cancers can happen in never smokers, and they can happen from many different reasons from environmental exposure, also from age.

And also there can be a particular type of proteins or or molecular alteration that can make the cancer grow, particularly in never smokers.

And in terms of the recuperation here everyone says the prognosis for this is is fairly good.

He's well on the mend.

He's canceled public event for several days, rightfully so.

But in terms of someone of that age who obviously travel quite a bit, it's an extremely, I imagine, high profile position all around the world.

Are there any restrictions that the Pope may face in terms of his daily work his travel, his daily routine?

In light of this diagnosis?

Those questions?

We don't have the right answers at this time.

And what we need to understand is that some of these answers will depend on what happens in the next few days, and they official information that we get into the next few days.

In general, it can vary from a normal, a normal recovery.

And after 2 or 3 weeks he will be able to go back to his normal duties.

He will be able to travel depending on the recovery.

There are some patients tha might need oxygen for some time.

But again, this is a speculation at this time and we need official information because before we can say for sure.

So it can vary.

But with a normal recover on an average smoker patients, patients can recove and go back to their normal life and their normal duties and their normal work.

And in light of this diagnosis, though, will the Pope continue to, I guess, be under surveillance for any possible recurrence in the lung elsewhere in the body?

How does this influence how his health is monitored going forward after this recovery?

Yes.

So talking about the recovery or the risk of recurrence, there are two pieces of information that we don't know what this time is, what was the size of the cancer and what were the what we call the local invasion or the cance invading into the neighborhood?

Was the cancer embedding into other areas around and particularly the lymph nodes.

The lymph nodes ar the draining system of the lung.

They get rid of infections, they get rid of inflammation, and they get rid of cancer.

So before we talk about the risk of recurrence, we need to know what is the exact stage.

And last question just in 20s or so for everyday folks who are watching this, smokers or not, who are concerned about their own health and and obviously the importance of early detection is critical in this case in all cases.

What is the best advice that you would give to everyday people about screening for this particular type of cancer symptoms to to look for, look out for if you're if you're concerned?

Yes.

The two best piece of advice that we have is one.

If you are a smoker, you should stop or decrease smoking.

Your PCP and your primary doctor can help with that.

And also ask your primary doctor or your pulmonary doctor if you meet the criteria for long cancer screening.

That's usually done with a CT or with a special picture of the lungs to look for a cancer.

Okay.

All right.

Over 3 million Catholics here in new Jersey.

Of course, watching the situation very closely and and very concerned but grateful for early detection and grateful for what appears to be a successful surgery doctor Michael Miguel Gonzalez Velez, thank you for sharing your expertise on this topic with us.

Really helpful.

We appreciate the conversation.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Time now for tonight's roundabout.

Our quick look at headlines from all across the state.

We are learning more tonight about what led to that data center diesel spill in Secaucus last month.

Equinox, the company that operates the data center, now says clogged valves inside the center led diesel to overflow and caused more than 5000 gallons of fuel to spill near the Hackensack River.

This is all according to a report from the company released earlier this week.

The report adds tha an engineer on duty at the time did not respond to alerts from its systems.

We'll took over three hour from when the spill began before action was taken.

The state Department of Environmental Protection is overseeing the cleanup.

No word yet o when that is set to be finished.

An investigation into the eligibility of some voters in Ocean County is now set to continue, after a judge blocked efforts to drop it.

A state Superior Court judg rejected claims from new Jersey Civil Liberties Unio that the probe is biased toward Democrats and independents.

The investigation, stemming from a list of names submitted by a Bay Head Town official highlighting address discrepancies betwee registered voters in the town.

The clue says the list purposely did not include Republicans in similar circumstances.

The judge says the ACLU failed to show proof of harm and called the list, quote, truthful.

This, coming as a new Rutgers Eagleton poll out this week, shows more than 80% of New Jerseyans are in support of showing ID before placing your ballot.

Days after a deadly roller coaster accident at a Six Flags in Georgia.

The company is now announced it is closing down eight similar rides in multiple parks, including one right here in Jersey.

The Nitro roller coaster in Jackson Township that's an Ocean County, is now shut down while the company reviews safety protocols.

All this comes after a Georgia man was ejected from his seat while riding the Goliath coaster on Monday.

Several other others were hurt in the incident.

No word yet when or if the rides will reopen.

Social security recipients are set to get a little more money in the bank every month.

Today, the administration announcing next year's cost of living or Cola adjustment, which will boost monthly payments by 3.6%.

The adjustments come at a time when many Americans, especially those on fixed incomes, are deeply concerned about affordability with prices continuing to surge.

In fact, data shows inflation is up 3% from this time last year.

As the war in Iran continues.

And that's tonight's roundabout.

On this Wednesday night, when New Jersey's annual black bear hunt is now in full swing and the latest numbers are fairly significant, state officials say that hunters, as of today, have killed 181 black bears so far, more than half of them in Sussex County.

Now the hunt comes as reported bear activity is up more than 22% this year, with nearly 120 reports through late September.

But those numbers deserve a little context here.

Most of the increase involve sightings or nuisance behavior.

The most serious incidents rose only slightly from 80 last year to 83 this year, and the state reported no.

I repeat, no human attacks during that period.

Now, this October, hunt does run through Saturday in five designated bear management zones.

That's what we call them.

Archery is allowed throughout the week with muzzle loaders kind of rifle.

They're allowed during the final three days of this stage.

State wildlife officials say the hunt is one part of a larger plan to control the bear population in our state and also reduce those dangerous, potentially encounters.

Critics continue to question whether killing bears is even necessary, or whether the state should be doing more to prevent those encounters in the first place.

Kristen Maestro is joining us now.

She's assistant director of Ne Jersey's DEP Fish and Wildlife.

Thanks so much for giving us some time.

We appreciate it.

Yeah, thanks so much for having me.

So listen, we have that number we just gave here 181 bears harvested so far.

We know tha overall encounters are up 22%.

That's a fairly significant number.

So talk about how this the start of the season compares to others.

Is it different in a significant way?

Yeah.

So we have been seeing quite a bit more harvested in the first two days as you mentioned, 181 harvested over those first tw in the beginning of this hunt.

So that is different from last year, but the real test is going to be towards the end of this segment.

And then the following segmen B, which will occur in December.

Just see how things shake out.

So weather can play a big role in all of this.

And and so really we want to take a look at the entire season.

You know.

But it is it is off to fairl different start from last year.

Wow okay.

So a stronger start in terms o the number of harvested bears.

Let me ask a question.

Is that because there's more hunters or better hunters or more bears out there.

So it could be a whole combination of different things, right?

We track hunter harvest.

We track those conflict and bear activity numbers.

As you mentioned, they are slightly up this year, the those conflict numbers, but it could be a combination of decent weather, right.

More people are just getting out there.

They're more comfortable getting out there.

Right?

We're not dealing with a big rain event or super deep breeze, so it could be a combination of things.

But again, we're really going to know more once we include the entire season.

Gotcha.

Makes sense.

And just to show some county by county numbers here, obviously Sussex to the surprise of no one still the king.

This is the more rural part of the state.

So naturally you'd see more bears there.

But we've seen a jump in bears in Morris and Warren counties as well, in that same relative region.

Why do you think that is?

And what would you tell the folks who live in those counties?

So black bears have been expandin in new Jersey since the 1980s, and they're now found in all 21 counties across the state.

How are the majority of those black bears are found in northern new Jersey?

And so most likely what those black bears are doing is they're dispersing just to find more food.

So they're getting ready for the winter.

They're trying to find as much food as they possibly can.

And while it's hard to say, one thing that we did see was earlier this yea we had a pretty big deep freeze, which affected a lot of fruit that is grown in new Jersey.

And so that also affected a lot of the food that black bears rely on.

So they may just be expanding into different areas to to try and find that food to pack it on before they, before they hunker down for the winter.

And so for people who may either live in their country or may see a black bear, you know, one of the one of the biggest things that we always say is to reduce the amount of food that is available to black bears, right?

Overall, blac bears are pretty wary of people.

They don't want to they don't want to have conflicts.

But when black bears start to associate people with food, that's when we start to see more dangerous situations.

So if you're a homeowner securing any trash you might have, bring it in at night or don't put it out until the morning, taking down bird feeders at night and just making sur everything is clean is one way to avoid a couple of way to avoid black bear conflicts.

We have a whole lot of other resources on our website available for homeowners and municipalities, but those are just a few things that you can do to avoid attracting bears.

Now, if you actually see a black bear, one of the biggest things is to stay calm.

Slowly back away again.

Most, most often that Black Bear does not want to have any complex with you.

So don't approach.

Don't make direct eye contact.

Make your presence known, make a lot of noise, and then just be aware of some of the warning signs that they may exhibit, right?

They may do a series of hops.

They could pop their jaw, spot the ground, they could even bluff charge.

Those are all signs that you're too close and you need to to back away.

And listen.

For those of us who are have never hunted, bear in case we do encounter one.

My instinct, and I think this is the technical term, is run like hell.

So.

But I've heard that's what you should not do here.

So correct me if I'm wrong.

That's so.

You are right.

You should not run.

You should back away slowly and don't make eye contact.

But just try and, you know, slowly, slowly pick yourself out of that, that situation and, and just make sure that, you know, that you keep a healthy distance away from black bears.

And real quick, just a few seconds left here, at the end of the day, this fundamentally, I assume, is still about bear population control.

The reason we have these seasons correct and talk about is the need for that population control.

Still as strong as it was years ago?

Yeah.

So our goal as an agency is to maintai a healthy and sustainable black bear population in the state, but also ensuring that people and bears can safely coexist.

So again, we track all of these number and things have been relatively consistent over the last few years.

However, there have been some fluctuations.

And so then the regulated bear hunt is just one part of our comprehensive black bear management policy.

We also conduct a lot of research.

We have a whole educational program for a variety of different audiences, a lot of information on our website.

We promote those bear safe trash cans.

And then we also have a very detailed black bear response protocol.

So when people do encounter black bears and have maybe aggressive black bears or a black bea that is causing a lot of damage, we have protocols in place to try and address that.

All right.

Kristen Maestro, assistant director of new Jersey DEP, Fish and Wildlife reall important and practical advice and standing invitation to come back once this season wraps up t give us the the final numbers.

In the meantime, thanks for giving us part of your part of your day.

Yes, thank you.

And happy bear hunting to all of our friends in northwest Jersey tonight.

That is going to do it for us though, for right now.

Thank you, as always for watching NJ PBS news.

Have a great night.

Jersey.