New Jersey lawmakers pass 3 bills designed to protect immigrants from ICE raids

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On Monday, the final day of the current New Jersey legislative session, lawmakers in the General Assembly and state Senate passed three bills designed to strengthen public trust and safety in immigrant communities across the Garden State, and to protect them from U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement raids and roundups.

To become law, the legislation must be signed by outgoing Gov. Phil Murphy before he leaves office Jan. 20. New Jersey has the second-largest immigrant population in the country after California.

The Safe Communities Act requires the state attorney general to develop a plan for how sensitive locations such as public schools, health care facilities and houses of worship would interact with federal immigration authorities without deterring community members from seeking services or engaging with them.

The act mandates that the commissioners of Community Affairs, Children and Families, Health, Human Services, Education and Corrections, as well as the administrative director of the courts, adopt the attorney general’s model policies, or policies to provide greater protection for community members, and to prominently display them in public-facing areas.

The Privacy Protection Act limits the collection and sharing of data by federal government and health care entities to ensure that Jersey residents are not discouraged from seeking necessary services.

The third measure codifies the attorney general’s Immigrant Trust Directive, which draws a clear distinction between state, county and local law enforcement officers — who are responsible for enforcing state criminal law — and federal immigration authorities, including ICE, who enforce federal civil immigration law. The bill limits the voluntary assistance that state law enforcement officers may provide to federal authorities. The directive, which is designed to foster trust between police and community members, has withstood legal challenges by state and federal courts since it was issued in 2018.

All three bills were championed by state Sens. Pat Diegnan, Gordon Johnson, John McKeon, Raj Mukherji, Teresa Ruiz, Britnee Timberlake and Andrew Zwicker, and state Reps. Joe Danielsen, Verlina Reynolds-Jackson, Ellen Park, Eliana Pintor Marin and Gabriel Rodriguez.

Immigrants rights groups and organizations cheered passage of the legislation on Monday.

Amy Torres, executive director of the New Jersey Alliance for Immigrant Justice, in a statement called the trio of bills “a hard-earned victory for efforts to free ourselves from the tyranny of mass detention and deportation.” She said as the legislation moves to the governor’s desk, “New Jersey is one step closer to becoming a place where fear no longer dictates people’s lives.”

“These bills strengthen limits on local cooperation with ICE, including a major improvement: ending collaboration based solely on a final order of removal,” said Katy Sastre, executive director of First Friends of New Jersey and New York, in a statement. “That will help keep families together.”

Nedia Morsy, director of Make the Road New Jersey, said in a statement that communities no longer can trust the federal government to keep them safe.

“The murder of Renee Nicole Good is all the proof we need that ICE is a threat to all of us,” she said. “That’s why legislation like this is so important.”

Hazel Applewhite, CEO of the Ironbound Community Corporation, said in a statement that the fear of ICE raids keeps many families in Newark’s Ironbound neighborhood from accessing the services they rely on.

“From children missing school to seniors and survivors avoiding essential support,” she said, “this legislation allows families to safely get the help they need and ensures our neighborhoods can rebuild and remain connected.”

“We are Jersey brave, and we chose to love our neighbors, because that’s what faithful people do when fear is loud,” said Charlene Walker, executive director of Faith in New Jersey. “We grieve what this victory cannot repair: the lives already shattered, and the loss of Jean Wilson Brutus, whose name we will not let be forgotten.”

During legislative debate, several Republicans voiced opposition to the three bills, saying they protected criminals and ignored the rights of New Jersey residents.

State Senate Republican minority leader Tony Bucco said prohibiting New Jersey law enforcement officers from communicating with federal ICE agents would hurt public safety.

He said the 2004 final 9-11 Commission report filed in response to the terror attacks that destroyed the Twin Towers in New York City concluded, “When these agencies together, that is a contributing factor to missing information that could lead to preventing serious crime or terrorism.”

He said in recent days in Morris County, ICE agents made several arrests, but local law enforcement had not been informed of their operation and did not know what was going on.

“I was told if they had been notified and were able to participate, it would have gone a lot easier and a lot better,” he said. “People would have been safer.”

Democratic state Sen. Raj Mukherji, one of the prime sponsors of the bill, said the legislation is necessary to promote public safety.

He said any federal agency coming into a New Jersey municipality to carry out a mission, including ICE, should notify local law enforcement that it’s doing so.

“ICE has made a habit of not doing that,” he said. “Nothing in this bill would prohibit, preclude any federal agency from making those notifications that would further public safety.”

Mukherji said the bill is designed to make sure dangerous criminals are brought to justice. “Many times that requires victims and witnesses to come forward, who choose not to do so when they are in fear of deportation, even if they have committed no wrongdoing,” he said.

He noted that in many states, immigrants are not coming forward because they don’t trust authorities.

“What we need is to restore that trust between our communities and law enforcement in this state,” Mukherji said.

After the legislation was passed by both Houses, New Jersey American Civil Liberties Union campaign strategist Ami Kachalia said in a statement. “These bills will cement long overdue protections for immigrant New Jerseyans. We urge the Governor to pass these bills as written to better protect the constitutional rights of all New Jerseyans and make our state stronger and safer – it’s what New Jersey, and everyone, deserves.”