A New Jersey attorney general order bars local cops from cooperating with civil immigration enforcement. Would our next governor keep it or ax it? (Courtesy of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement)
By SOPHIE NIETO MUNOZ
Republished with permission of N.J. Monitor
With Gov. Phil Murphy set to leave office in eight months, the future of his administration’s push to prevent local police from assisting with civil immigration enforcement is in doubt.
Since 2019, an Attorney General’s Office directive has prevented this kind of cooperation between New Jersey law enforcement and federal immigration agents. But Republicans running in June 10’s primaries want to ax that order, and at least one of the six Democrats in the race does, too.
This comes amid the backdrop of the second Trump administration, which has named detaining and deporting undocumented immigrants a chief priority and has targeted orders like New Jersey’s, called the Immigrant Trust Directive.
There are five Republicans vying for the party’s nomination to succeed Murphy, a Democrat, and the front-runners have the same position: repeal the directive and cooperate with the federal government when it comes to immigration enforcement.
There is more nuance on the Democratic side, where six are seeking the Dem nod for governor. Two want to keep the directive, one wants to lose it, and three want to give the order the force of law by passing a bill stalled in the Legislature called the Immigrant Trust Act. That measure would codify the directive and expand it to bar immigration enforcement activity at “sensitive locations” like schools and hospitals, and require public reporting on cooperation with federal agents.
Newark Mayor Ras Baraka, Jersey City Mayor Steve Fulop, and teachers union chief Steve Spiller all support passage of the Immigrant Trust Act.
The immigration issue is close to home for Baraka, who has protested the opening of a new migrant jail in his city, Delaney Hall. Baraka, who alleges the building is operating without proper city permits, was arrested by federal agents at the facility on May 9 and accused of trespassing (the charge was dismissed Monday).
Baraka has fought back on what he says is criticism that he focuses too much time on protecting immigrants.
“You have people who say, ‘How is this our fight?’ And ask me, ‘Mayor, why are you protecting immigrants?’ Well, and I said it repeatedly over and over again, if you’re not from the Choctaw Nation, or the Lenni Lenape, if you’re not a Cherokee or Apache, then somebody in your family has come here undocumented,” he said during a courthouse rally last week.
Fulop said during an NJ Spotlight News debate last week that the time to pass the Immigrant Trust Act was when acting U.S. Attorney Alina Habba said she was investigating Murphy and Attorney General Matt Platkin over their support of the policy. Fulop said he’d sign the bill into law if elected governor.
“It speaks to the value of New Jersey. It speaks to how you view the immigrant community. It speaks to how they live their life in the community of Jersey City or Newark or wherever they reside, and that is an important starting point,” Fulop said.
Spiller, a former Montclair mayor, also supports codifying the directive and expanding its safeguards for undocumented residents. He has said he would appoint an attorney general who would protect immigrant communities.
He said he wants to “make sure our immigrants are not unfairly targeted through accessing data or locations where they should be in safe haven.”
Reps. Mikie Sherrill and Josh Gottheimer have expressed reservations about passing the Immigrant Trust Act, citing the potential for legal challenges.
At a recent event with Latino supporters at an Elizabeth supermarket, Gottheimer said he believes fighting for immigrants is “essential,” but the proposed legislation needs some “tweaks.”
“Right now, it doesn’t allow for violent criminals who are undocumented to not be here anymore, and I think not allowing for that is a huge mistake,” he said.
Sherrill, a former federal prosecutor, noted that the directive has already withstood judicial review (a federal appeals court rejected a challenge to it in 2021). She said she worries that taking additional action would allow for a new challenge that could make it to the U.S. Supreme Court.
“I also share concerns raised by a wide range of people that the bill must be clear about criminal consequences for those who commit violent offenses,” she said in a statement to the New Jersey Monitor.
Former state Sen. Steve Sweeney wants to repeal the directive altogether. He said it “doesn’t do anything but give false hope” to undocumented immigrants, and likened it to providing “sanctuary status.”
“If you came here as a criminal, you got to leave. If you break the law here, you got to leave. But Washington — and I’m sorry because this is where this lies — Washington has to come up with a pathway” to citizenship, he said during the NJ Spotlight debate.
The Republican front-runners in the race clash plenty, but agree on repealing the directive. And none of them would sign the Immigrant Trust Act if passed by the state Legislature.
State Sen. Jon Bramnick (R-Union) said in an interview that he’d cooperate with the federal government, whether or not he likes the law. Bramnick added that he wouldn’t support any legislation that offers “sanctuary” protections.
Jack Ciattarelli, a former Assemblyman who is seeking the governor’s seat for the third time this year, said he’d repeal the directive on his first day in office.
“We are not going to have sanctuary cities and we’re not going to be a sanctuary state,” he told the New Jersey Monitor. “That only encourages illegal immigration. I said that in ‘21, we’re doing that again here in ‘25.”
Former radio talk show host Bill Spadea said he wants to repeal the directive and any other laws that protect undocumented immigrants, like the one that allows people without citizenship status to obtain driver’s licenses. Spadea said he’d declare a state of emergency for public safety on his first day in office to suspend these laws.
“We have the potential of criminal aliens who have been convicted in their home countries or accused of horrible crimes here lining up to get a New Jersey driver’s license. It’s not acceptable and it’s going to end by executive order,” he said following a campaign event in Seaside Heights. “And we’ll be happy to take that to court and fight it all the way.”
Mario Kranjac, the former mayor of Englewood Cliffs, said he doesn’t think it’s safe not to fully cooperate with federal agents, and said he’d “defund” municipalities that pass sanctuary ordinances.
Nikita Biryukov contributed.
