Deportation issues have many in NJ on edge
By: Charles Stile
Political Stile
USA today Network
..... In his State of the State message last month, [01/2025] Governor Phil Murphy put the famous - and sometime - resident of Bedminster on notice.
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"I will never back down from defending New Jersey values - if and when they are tested," the governor said of the president.
..... To many people in New Jersey's immigrate community of an estimated 2.2 million, Murphy's remarks signaled that his administration would not roll out the red carpet for President Donald Trump's mitigation strike force that has been unleashed to uproot and deport millions of undocumented immigrates, including people who have been living and working and paying taxes in the shadows for decades.
..... But fear of Trump' - and growing public support for deportation that propelled his victory in November [2024] - now has immigrant advocates pushing Murphy to back up his fiery words with action. T Hey have rallied around stalled legislation that would convey his administration's 2018 Immigrate Trust Directive into a state law.
..... That directive, which is largely responsible for New Jersey's "sanctuary state" reputation, strictly limited cooperation of state and local police departments with federal Immigration Customs Enforcement agents. Then Attorney General Gurbir Grewal, which drafted the direction, later updated it with provisions blocking local law enforcement from acting as mitigation officials in county jails.
..... But advocates, fearing a nothing-to-lose Trump flush with a sense of mandate, believe codifying that directive into state law would prevent future governors form scrapping Grewal's guidelines in the fact of public sentiment. Murphy already granted similar statutory protections to reproductive rights and gay marriage.
..... "We're safe under Governor Murphy. We don't know what we're getting next," noted Christian Estevez, founder of the Latino Action Network, the state's largest Hispanic rights organization. "And that's where we have a lot of anxiety. If we don't codify the directive into law, the next governor can come in and just undo it."
..... that anxiety was heightened last month, when former Senate President Steve Sweeney, the Gloucester County democrat running for governor, vowed to "repeal New Jersey;s sanctuary state status," a reference to the 2018 directive.
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"Illegal immigrants who commit cries are not welcome in New Jersey," Sweeney said in a statement.
..... but, despite the growing fear of trump's promised crackdown - amplified late last month [01/2025] with startling raids in Newark and Vineland - Mu0prhy does not appear eager to take the step of codifying the 2018 policy directive into a more permanent law. Legislation enshrining the directive remains stalled in committee. In a meeting with NorthJersey.com and the USA Today Network editorial board last week, [01/28/2025] the governor said the original guidelines are "sturdy" and "have worked" and that he's "not inclined to do a whole lot of messing" with it. Murphy said he was still "open-mined" to improve the policy but has not spoken with legislative leadership about it.
..... Told of Murphy's hesitancy, Steve struck a pragmatic note. Vivien the Trump-fueled, anti-immigate environment that the country finds itself in, the fact that Murphy continues to support the existing guidelines "is a positive thing."
..... "We want to continue to be in a conversation with the governor about ways to improve it, and, over the remainder of his term, to cerate additional protections for vulnerable residents of the state," Estevez said.
What are NJ's gubernatorial candidates saying?
..... Murphy's hesitancy - and the reluctance of the Democratic-controlled Legislature to take up the cause of one of the party's constituencies - may have more to do with Trump;s victory in November. [2024]
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Polls showed strong public support fro Trump's campaign pledge to mass deport millions of undocumented immigrants.
..... And his incendiary rhetoric - broad-brush painting immigrates as dangerous criminals - failed to derail his chances.
..... In fact, Trump made historic gains among Latino voters, despite his attacks. he captured the Latino-heavy Passaic County and slashed the Democratic margin of victory in Hudson County, which is also home to a large Latino population.
..... Trump also defied expectations by coming within just six points of defeating Vice President Kamala Harris after losing the sate in 2020 and 2016 by double digit margins.
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And a Rutgers University/Eagleton Institute poll released in Early November [2024] found voters split over the issue of mass deportation, with 49% supporting it in some fashion, and 45% opposed.
..... The takeaway for Democrats heading into the 2025 governor's race and the contest for all 8- seats in the Assembly is this: There is little upside in being defenders of immigrates or the "sanctuary state" sentiment that Murphy once embraced and the party;s social justice-left continues to embrace.
..... It's time to get back to bread-and-butter issues like property tax relief, providing an efficient mass transit, and crime reduction.
..... "As Democrats, we need to get back to listening to regular people,' Sweeney said.
..... But some candidates for governor seeking to claim the nomination by appealing to the progressive wing of the party attacked Sweeney as a neo-Republican who abandoned his core principles, Estevez's group, for example, condemned Sweeney's remarks as a deplorable capitulations to Trump's anti-immigate agenda.
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Jersey City Mayor Steve Fulop endorsed the legislation and took a swipe at the status-quo Democrats in Trenton who have let it languish since October 2023, when it was first introduced.
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"This is what I mean about leadership in Trenton ( and Dems in particular)," said Fulop, Newark Mayor Ras Baraka, who is also competing for the nomination. also endorse the legislation.
..... Other, like Representative Mikie Sherrill, D-Montclair, have taken a more cautious approach to the bill.
..... She expressed concern that the current protections could get be weakened through the sausage grind of legislative negotiations.
..... "I agree with concerns form a wide rang of people that the bill must be clear about criminal consequences for those who commit violent offenses," Sherrill said in a statement.
..... "We also know that New Jersey's directive has already withstood judicial review - and that additional action, if not precise, could undo important protections which we cannot risk under the Trump administration.