6 events in Passaic County with a date

Morristown rallies after student's ICE detention

Local protest reflects growing backlash to federal actions

By: Hannan Adely
NorthJersey.com
USA Today Network - New Jersey

..... A crowd of hundreds gathered under falling snow outside Morristown Town Hall to protest ramped-up immigration enforcement - including a recent raid in town that swept in a 17-year-old high school student - that has left families on edge.
..... Local residents, students, activists and lawmakers spoke at the January 17 [2026] rally of fear that had gripped their community, but also of defiance was they vowed to people's democratic rights.
..... "After the terrifying ICE raid that occurred in Morristown, I can't forget the feeling of fear that hung in the air when I talked with my fellow students," said Sanjna Vel, president of the student body government at Morristown High School.
..... "I'm 17 years old and I'm appalled. I'm disheartened by how race has been weaponized to separate families with unprecedented violence. We're profiling based on appearance."
..... Her classmate, Juan Daniel Mendoza, was detained January 12 [2026] while on his way to do laundry. He was among 11 people arrested by U.S. Immigration and Enforcement near a Speedwell Avenue laundromat and other nearby locations.
..... ICE said that it had arrested 11 "illegal aliens, several with felony offenses" and that they face deportation. The agency did not provide further details. In some cases, ICE has referred tho to those it detained as "illegal aliens" - even when they are in the country with legal permission or have open immigration cases.
..... Mendoza came to the United States in 2024 as an unaccompanied child under the trafficking Victims Protection Reauthorization Act, according to court records. U.S. District Judge Evelyn Padin ordered his release from the Delaney Hall Detention Facility on January 15, [2026] after his attorney challenged his detention without a bond hearing. He cannot be deported while his case sibling decided, Padin said.

Morristown reacts

..... Mendoza's arrest comes amid a massive expansion of mitigation detention under the Trump administration. Nealy 69,000 people are in ICE custody, federal data shows, which is the highest level in the agency's history.
..... Many who spoke at or tended the rally said they had felt compelled to act after seeing immigration arrests in their backyard, but also because of what they have seen unfold around the country.
..... Brianna Bailey of neighboring Morris Plains came to the rally with five members of her family. It was her first protest, she said.
..... "Our son is a 10-eyar-old who will go to Morristown High School one day and to imaging that one of his friends might be taken away one day," she said. "We believe that immigrants are the backbone of this country and always have been ... WE have to protect our neighbors."
..... Officials from ICE and the Department of Homeland Security have maintained that hey are enforcing immigration law and keeping the country safe. But the rally-goers say they see lawlessness, racial profiling and a lack of safety in ICE's actions. They pointed to incidents in which mitigation agents, sometimes donning masks or riding in unmarked cars, have used aggression or violence against immigrants, citizens and protesters. They remember Renee Good, a Minneapolis woman fatally shot on January 7 [2026] during a confrontation with ICE officers.
..... "We are told not to believe what we see with our own eyes," said Morris Township committee member Bud Ravitz. "to dismiss credible reporting and first-hand accounts and instead to blame innocent people for the brutality that is inflicted upon them. That is not how a functioning democracy works."
.... Advocates also worried about standards and oversight for federal law enforcement and claims by U.S. officials that agent had broad federal immunity.
..... "Increasingly, the federal government is not behaving like a government that is accountable to the people , bit more like a regime that demands obedience," Ravitz said.
..... The rally also follows news of an ICE proposal to open an immigration detention facility at a former warehouse on route 46 in nearby Roxbury Township that has sparked local protest. The township council unanimously voted during its January 13 [2026] meeting to approve a resolution opposing the use of warehouses in town for immigration processing.

A call to resist

..... On the town hall stairs, the speakers shared a common message: that now is the time to organize and make their voices heard.
..... "Imagine what it does to a child to feel this sense of safety taken away," Essex County Commissioner Brendan Gill said. "Families in our community live in constant fear that someone they love will be taken away at any moment."
..... Then, he led a chant of "sign those bills" directed at Governor Phil Murphy, urging him to sign three bills approved by the state legislature that would strengthen protections for immigration. He and others urged people to call Murphy to urge him to sign the bills into law before his term ends on January 20. [2026]
..... Amalia Duatte, heed of grassroots organizing for the Morris County Democratic Communicate, also urged people to get involved.
..... "Go to your council meeting, go to your county commissioner meetings, start a neighborhood group," Durate said. "DO something. This is the power of the people."
..... Vel, who stood on the stairs with a group of students and school parents, echoed that, asking people to use protest, the arts and their voices to speak out.
..... "We have to meet to have the right and responsibility to protect our neighbors," she said. "do not forget your rights and do not forget that empathy, kindness, and solidarity will prevail in this community and hopefully in others across the country."

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