Advocates really to call for passage of immigrant bill
By: Ricardo Kaulessar
NorthJersey.com
USA Today Network - New Jersey
..... After an election that saw increased Latino voter turnout in New Jersey, immigrant advocates are still pushing for the Immigrant Trust Act to be passed by state legislators as soon as possible.
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Over 100 of those advocates gather in Jersey City on November 8, [2025] calling for the bill, still pending in the legislature, to be approved. It would limit state and local agencies from sharing personal information with Immigration and Customs Enforcement or assisting federal officers in the field when they are enforcing civil warrants.
..... The advocates said legislators need to pas the legislation during the current lame-duck session of the Legislature, a federal officers from ICE and Customs and Border Protection have engaged in aggressive, controversial raids that have led to the arrest of undocumented immigrants across the country. President Donald Trump has implemented restrictive immigration policies since taking office in January., [2025] as part of his mission of mass deportation of at least 11 million undocumented immigrants.
..... Advocates also called for the state to diverts pension fund money from Palantir Technology, the company awarded a $30 million federal contract to develop a technology platform hat tracks people who plan to self-deport and targets gang members and those who have overstayed their visas.
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The gathering, organized by the advocacy group Make the Road New Jersey, along with other groups, also drew elected officials who championed the bill's passage, while participants held signs that said "Voters were clear - Reject immigrant hate - ITA Now" and "New Jersey purge Palantir."
..... Viri Martinez of New Jersey Alliance for Immigrant Justice said the rally kicked off a month-long series of events across the state to get the Immigrant Trust Act passed.
..... "We are here today [11/10/2025] to call for immigrant protections now," Martinez said. "With almost a year under this authoritarian and fascist regime, we have seen our community members kidnapped off the streets. We have seen elected officials pushed around, arrested and threatened with imprisonment."
..... Make The Road New Jersey cited data collected by the Immigration Enforcement Dashboard, an independent research project, showing that ICE made 3,202 arrests in New Jersey from January 20, [2025] Trump's first day to July 29. [2025]
..... One of the elected officials to whom Martinez referred was U.S. Representative LaMonica McIver, who spoke at the rally. The Newark congresswoman, whew is facing federal charges of "assaulting, resisting, and impeding" Homeland Security Department investigators during a May 9 [2025] visit to the Newark detention facility Delaney Hall, said she will support immigration advocates in their efforts despite her legal troubles.
..... "We have to continue to be out here commanding what is just, what is right for our communities. I'm going to continue to state with you," McIver said. "I'm not going to get tired. I'm not going to let the bully me."
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Other elected officials who appeared included Newark Mayo Ras Baraka; Jersey City councilman James Solomon, a runoff candidate for Jersey City mayor; Hoboken Mayor Ravi Bhalla, who was elected to the state Assembly on November 4; [2025] Bhalla's running mate, Katie Brennan; and state Senator Raj Mukherji, one of the sponsors of the Immigrant Trust Act.
..... Mukherji announced during the rally that he would introduce a bill in the lame-duck session called the Fight Unlawful Conduct and Keep Individuals and Communities Empowered act. It is similar to a bill passed in Illinois in October, [2025] allowing lawsuits by people who believe their constitutional rights were violated during immigration arrests.
..... Mukherji, the son of Indian immigrants, said in an interview with
NorthJersey.com that the Immigrant trust Act has not been made law since it was introduced last year [2024] due to the existence of the Immigrant Trust Directive, which is similar to the ITA. But he still wants to see the ITA passed in the lame-duck session, which ends in January, [2026] when Governor-Elected Mikie Sherrill and newly elected legislators are sworn into office.
..... "Given what is going on in this country right now, which is un-American, we do need to codify the directive into law, and I call for its passage," Mukherji said.