Republican Jack Ciattarelli and Democrat Mikie Sherrill will face off in November to succeed Gov. Phil Murphy in 2025. (Photos by Hal Brown and Amanda Brown)
By SOPHIE NIETO-MUNOZ
Reprinted with permission of New Jersey Monitor
New Jersey’s gubernatorial candidates are clashing over a Trump administration plan to house detained migrants at Joint Base McGuire-Dix-Lakehurst.
U.S. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth unveiled the Fort Dix plan last week in a letter to members of Congress. Rep. Mikie Sherrill, the Democratic nominee for governor in November, called the move “unacceptable.”
“This is a blatant misuse of one of New Jersey’s most critical military assets and reduces a vital national security installation to a stage for political theater, which flies in the face of an apolitical military,” Sherrill said in a statement. “Using the base for detention operations risks degrading operational capacity, places an inappropriate burden on our service members, and harms civil-military relations.”
She urged the administration to immediately reverse its decision and “respect the essential role our servicemembers and military bases play in defending the nation.” Her House Democratic colleagues and New Jersey’s two U.S. senators, Cory Booker and Andy Kim, both Democrats, also oppose the Fort Dix plan.
Jack Ciattarelli, a former assemblyman and Sherrill’s Republican opponent in the fall, blamed Democrats for forcing President Donald Trump’s hand. In a statement from his campaign, Ciattarelli said Sherrill and her party “are the ones who should be held accountable.”
“N.J. Democrats, including Mikie Sherrill, created a crisis by putting out the welcome mat for illegal immigrants with their dangerous Sanctuary State policies. Having created the crisis, they now want to blame the White House for being forced to deal with it. That’s like an arsonist complaining about having started a fire,” he said.
On the campaign trail, Ciattarelli has sided with Trump’s mass deportation efforts. He has said that if elected, on his first day in office he would strike down a state directive limiting local law enforcement cooperation with federal immigration authorities.
Sherrill and Ciattarelli are competing to succeed Gov. Phil Murphy, a Democrat who cannot seek a third term in November. He leaves office in January.
New Jersey has two detention centers for immigrant detainees, Elizabeth Detention Center and Delaney Hall in Newark. Delaney Hall in May became the second migrant jail to open under the new Trump administration. Its opening spurred protests that led to federal charges for Newark Mayor Ras Baraka, for trespassing, and Rep. LaMonica McIver (D-10), who is accused of assaulting federal officers. Federal prosecutors dropped the charge against Baraka days after he was arrested.
Federal officials also are exploring reopening the Albert M. “Bo” Robinson Treatment Center, a 1,000-bed facility in Trenton that held state prisoners until 2022, according to records obtained by the American Civil Liberties Union in November.
