Immigration Protections Are Uncertain in New Jersey even as Democrats Keep Governorship

In the wake of Tuesday’s election, New Jersey immigration advocates are uncertain about the future of a state policy that limits cooperation between county, state, and local law enforcement and federal immigration authorities. 

Democrat Mikie Sherrill won the governor’s race over Republican Jack Ciattarelli, a former lawmaker who campaigned on promptly repealing the policy, known as the Immigrant Trust Directive, and ramping up immigration enforcement. He recruited a sheriff eager to collaborate with Immigration and Customs Enforcement as his running-mate. Sherrill, who has served as a U.S. Representative since 2019, has generally been more critical of Trump’s immigration agenda and has spoken positively about the directive.

But she has also declined to say whether she’d keep it in place. The policy isn’t codified into state law, meaning that future attorneys general, who are appointed by the governor, could rescind it. 

Anxious about whether Sherrill will maintain the directive, advocates say lawmakers must pass legislation enshrining the state’s policy during the winter’s lame duck session to preserve protections for the state’s roughly 2.2 million immigrants. If passed by January, such a bill would prevent future administrations from walking back the limits on local immigration enforcement embedded in the Immigrant Trust Directive. 

“It’s a policy which can disappear, you know, whenever the governor changes, and as we’ve seen, we’re not even sure if there’s a Democrat succeeding the current Democrat if she’ll keep it in place,” Adam McGovern, who leads advocacy efforts for the immigration activist group Wind of the Spirit, told Bolts. “It’s in the hands of the current legislature and the current governor, and you know, we need them to step up and get it passed.”

Dozens of lawmakers have sponsored legislation, known as the Immigrant Trust Act, that would embed existing protections for immigrants into state law and expand them to include protection from sharing data that would tip off authorities to someone’s immigration status. The bill hasn’t moved since being introduced by Democratic Senator Gordon Johnson last year.

A spokesperson for outgoing Democratic Governor Phil Murphy, who would have to sign any legislation passed in coming months, told Bolts in an email, “We would respectfully decline to comment on pending legislation.” Murphy has supported the directive, which was issued in 2018 by an attorney general he appointed.

In New Jersey, the lame-duck period that starts after November’s elections, when lawmakers return to Trenton after facing reelection, is often productive for passing new legislation.

The bill would mirror the restrictions embedded in the attorney general’s directive. Those include a prohibition on law enforcement inquiring about citizenship status when it doesn’t relate to an investigation, and a ban on local law enforcement from participating in ICE’s 287(g) program, which deputizes law enforcement to enforce immigration laws. 

Sheriffs and police departments around the country have rushed to join the 287(g) program since Trump’s return to office, but New Jersey’s conservative sheriffs have not been able to follow suit due to the Murphy administration’s approach. Several other states, including California and Delaware, have passed legislation to ban local authorities from entering 287(g) contracts.

On the campaign trail, Sherrill expressed concerns about the Immigrant Trust Act, saying she feared it could expose the state to fresh legal challenges.

She spoke favorably of the attorney general’s existing directive, telling Politico New Jersey in January that it’s “a plan that’s working,” while remaining tight-lipped about how her administration would treat it if she became governor.

“What I’m going to do is make sure we’re following the law and the Constitution, so that’ll include due process rights and the Constitution,” she said of her position on the policy when asked during a debate. 

Her campaign team did not return requests for comment.

The state’s policy of limiting cooperation between ICE and New Jersey authorities has been upheld by two federal courts following challenges from federal and county authorities. The Trump administration has asked federal courts to reconsider the ruling in light of a lawsuit it filed in May against four New Jersey cities over their policies on local authorities assisting ICE. Lawyers for the cities are asking the judge to dismiss the litigation. 

Ahead of the legislature’s return to Trenton, McGovern said Wind of the Spirit activists plan to travel to the state capital twice a week to ask legislators to support the Immigrant Trust Act. 

ICE has arrested more than 3,000 people in New Jersey in the eight months since President Donald Trump took office for a second term. Most recently, agents raided a Woodbridge warehouse and took 46 people into custody. 

Many immigrants now fear leaving their homes, Amol Sinha, executive director of the ACLU of New Jersey, told Bolts. “There are communities where people are keeping their kids home from school,” he said. “People are not going to church or not going to the doctor because they fear being picked up by ice or having their family separated.”

Sinha added, “We need to do whatever we can in New Jersey to protect our people, and that includes maintaining the Immigrant Trust Directive and passing the Immigrant Trust Act.”

Asma Elhuni, an organizer with Resistencia En Accion, said she’s seen New Jersey law enforcement agencies assist ICE by forming perimeters during raids or arresting community members. Passing the legislation would create a “bright line in the law to ensure that our local police and public agencies are not acting as an arm of ICE,” she said. 

In the absence of a state law, Hoboken last month adopted the Hoboken Trust Act, an ordinance that permanently prohibits the city from using resources for federal civil immigration enforcement. 

Kathy O’Leary, coordinator of immigrant advocacy group Pax Christi New Jersey, helps host vigils outside of Delaney Hall, a federal immigrant detention center in Newark, and provide support for family members. The center has also seen large protests from activists this year. In May, ICE officers arrested Newark Mayor Ras Baraka while he visited the facility. 

“We witness how difficult it is when a family member is detained,” said O’Leary. “We know that the best way to help families in our communities is to keep them from ending up in detention. The state of NJ can do much more to protect families.”