Groups teach in Jersey City about ICE and rights
By: Ricardo Kaulessar
NorthJersey.com
USA Today Network - New Jersey
..... A small group of residents sat in the sanctuary of Grace Church Van Vorst in mid-August, [2026] nearly two weeks after a delivery person was picked up by Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents only a few doors down, on the otter side of Second Street in Jersey City. [NJ]
..... They gathered to hear Jessica Taube, a licensed social worker who previously worked for the immigrant advocacy group Make the Road New Jersey, give a presentation called "Know Your Rights and Rapid Response Tracings." The presentation laid out everything from what ICE is to what to do if you see someone taken by ICE officers.
..... It was hosted by Jersey City councilwoman Eleana Little in partnership with the grassroots advocacy group Spirit of Liberations Jersey City. Little spoke about the situation on the delivery person and how an uptick in ICE actions in Jersey City [NJ] in July and August led her to host the training session, the second she has done since February.
..... "T Here's no time like the present to start getting involved and to know your rights, and to be able to share this information with your neighbors and protest our community," little said.
..... An ICE spokesperson told NorthJersey.com that the delivery person arrested on august 4 [2026] had "attempted to flee on his bike during the arrest, but ICE agents were able to arrest him without incident."
..... The spokesperson also said that of six ICE arrest on August 4, [2026] one of the individuals was removed from the U.S. seven times, another has pending criminal charges with Jersey City police related to domestic violence, and another failed to report to ICE for a scheduled check-in earlier this year. [2026]
..... Taube is one of the residents in New Jersey's second largest city who have made the effort to inform fellow residents - immigrants and non-immigrants alike - about ICE encounters since January 2025, when President Donald Trump returned to the White House, ICE has been carrying out his goal of mass deportation of an estimated 11 million undocumented immigrants.
..... "You want to collect as much information as possible to help the families determine their whereabouts the license plates of the car they were taken in, what agents and badge numbers," Taube said. "Often times, we've seen parents begin detained when their children or their partners are right there. So, making suer that you're getting their contact so you can connect them to mutual aid."
.....
The city of over 300,000 residents has a foreign-born population of 42% census data shows. It is one of the most ethnically diverse U.S. cities, with a quarter of the population Hispanic and another quarter Asian.
..... ICE has spotted various times in Jersey City since January 2026. In February. [2026] ICE officers were confronted by city councilman Jake Ephros while riding an elevator at the Ninth Street light rail station.
.....
Then, spirit of Liberation Jersey City, through eyewitness accounts supplied by community members, chronicled 12 actions by ICE officers that occurred between July 29 and August 4 [2026] in the Downtown and Heights sections of the city. USA Today reported that data from the Department of Homeland Security released in July [2026] shows ICE arrests reaching record numbers, with the average daily number of people booked into detention from ICE agents reaching over 1,300 in June, [2026] the highest of any month since 2021.
..... NorthJersey.com reached out to Spirit of Liberation Jersey City for comments but did not receive a response.
..... Both Spirit of Liberation and the activist club Knitty Gritty JC have been educating residents and businesses about their rights, mitigation rights and the role of ICE with community information mentions. The groups have been going out in Jersey City and handing out the number for a hot-line run by the mitigation advocacy group DIRE NJ to call if they see ICE in their area, and a red card n English and Spanish if they have an encounter with ICE.
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Beverly Brown Ruggoia, co-founder of Knitty Gritty JC, recalled going out on a chilly February [2026] day with fellow Jersey City residents to inform businesses in the Heights section about what to do in an encounter with ICE agents.
..... "There is motivation and a great desire in the community to step up and protect our neighbors, to protect the people in our communities who are be attacked by ICE," she said.
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In 2017, Jersey City designated itself a "sanctuary City" limiting cooperation between local police and federal immigration enforcement officers.
..... The Trump administration filed a lawsuit against Jersey City and three other New Jersey cities over their sanctuary policies in May 2025, but a feder judge dismissed the suit in June. [2026]
..... In January, [2026] Mayor James Solomon signed an executive order banning ICE form us9ing city-owned property for processing detainees. Governor Mikie Sherrill signed several immigrant protections bills in March. [2026]
..... "The bottom line is that the community realizes hat it is going to have to take action itself to address the situation with ICE," Brown Ruggia said. "They know that various, levels of government and officials have been addressing it in the way they can. +Jersey city is technically a sanctuary city, and the state is doing what it can with passing legislation to protect immigrants in this environment. But it's clearly going to take more than that."