After a marathon voting session marked by tense debate, the Legislature Monday night sent a package of bills that would limit local police cooperation in immigration enforcement to Gov. Phil Murphy’s desk.
The trio of bills includes a bill that would codify the state’s Immigrant Trust Directive, a 2018 order from the state attorney general that restricts when state and local law enforcement can aid federal immigration agents.
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Activists who packed the rafters in the Assembly chambers in Trenton’s Statehouse cheered loudly after the bill’s passage, hailing it as a landmark moment for immigrant rights at a time when the Trump administration is pursuing an aggressive mass deportation policy. The bill passed the Assembly 46-26 and the Senate 23-13.
The Legislature’s action comes less than a week after a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officer shot and killed a woman in Minneapolis, leading to widespread condemnation from Trump critics.
“I, myself, was an immigrant who came here in 1978 at the age of six, and never in a million years did I ever think that we would be in a place like this today,” said bill sponsor Assemblywoman Ellen Park (D-Bergen). “It really breaks my heart because I feel that my family has achieved the American dream.”
Provisions of the bills would:
- Prohibit law enforcement from engaging in “racially influenced policing,” like stopping someone based on their suspected immigration status and asking someone’s immigration status unless relevant to a criminal investigation.
- Mandate that prosecutors inform criminal defendants of immigration consequences, limit prosecutors from telling a jury about a defendant’s immigration status in certain cases, and prevent prosecutors from assuming a non-citizen defendant is a flight risk when assessing whether they should be jailed before trial.
- Bar government entities and health care facilities from collecting private information — like place of birth or social security number — in certain instances.
- Direct the attorney general to develop policies for some locations — hospitals, public schools, shelters, places of worship, and courthouses — where assisting federal civil law enforcement would be prohibited.
- Prohibit a government entity from selling, sharing, or transferring license plate information unless required under a warrant or required by law, and require any entity that shares records to provide notice to the person whose information was shared.
- Require state officials to develop training programs explaining the legislation and mandate all state, county, and local law enforcement officers to complete the training within 60 days.
- Mandate annual reporting to the attorney general about when police officers aided federal immigration agents, to be posted online.
The bills were introduced less than two weeks ago and must be signed or vetoed before Murphy leaves office Jan. 20.
While Murphy has not said whether he would sign the bills, he conditionally vetoed the bill addressing data collection, requiring both chambers to reconvene on the measure and make minor edits before passing it again (the final version passed the Assembly 45-21 and the Senate 24-12).
“I commend the sponsors for their commitment to protecting the privacy rights of all people present in this State, who might otherwise be deterred from applying for government benefits and services, or seeking needed health care or other assistance out of fear that this information could be used against them and their families by the federal government,” Murphy wrote in the conditional veto.
Immigrant advocates have been urging the Legislature to codify the directive for more than a year. Amy Torres, executive director of New Jersey Alliance for Immigrant Justice, called Monday’s votes a “hard-earned win.”
“As these bills move to the Governor’s desk, New Jersey is one step closer to becoming a place where fear no longer dictates people’s lives,” Torres said in a statement. “This legislature has made it clear: the answer to this world’s uncertainty can be found by leading with our values. While this isn’t a finish line, it is long-awaited steady ground. These protections are a leg up on the chaos and confusion that have controlled immigrant lives for too long.”
Republican opponents of the legislation contend it creates “sanctuaries” for criminals, hinders law enforcement operations, and undermines federal immigration laws.
Assemblywoman Dawn Fantasia (R-Sussex) said New Jersey has “already seen what happens when that system fails.” Fantasia noted that a Red Bank man who entered the United States illegally was charged with killing a mother and her child in an alleged drunk driving crash last year.
“That tragedy did not happen in a vacuum. It happened because of an enforcement breakdown,” she said.
Sen. Raj Mukherji (D-Hudson) said it’s a different time in America, citing the Minneapolis shooting that left Renee Good dead. The Trump administration says the agent who shot Good was defending himself from her attempts to drive her car into him.
Mukherji, who was born in India and has lived in the United States nearly his entire life, said the New Jersey legislation would restore trust between communities and law enforcement that has dropped as a result of the federal government’s actions.
“My kids and my wife and I are of a color where I wonder if I should be carrying around a passport card or a copy of my passport, because Americans are being detained and even deported by this ICE,” he said.
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