Sherrill picks fight with Trump over rules for ICE
By: Charles Stile
Political Stile
USA Today Network
..... President Donald Trump put so-called sanctuary cites and states on notice when he retook the Oval Office last year, [2025] signing executive orders threatening to withhold federal funding, threating prosecution of local officials who refuse to cooperate with immigration officials and vowing raids in areas of resistance.
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But on March 25, [2026] Governor Mikie Sherrill issued a blunt rely: Come and get me.
..... The governor formally shed the thread-the-needle caution of last year's [2025] campaign by signing three "sanctuary" laws - although the word "Sanctuary" is not attached to them. but the spirit of it is.
..... In fact, there is an in-your-face quality to her action - literally.
..... One bill would require U.S. immigration agents to operate in most cases without masks, which became the dreaded symbol of Trump's goonish deportation dragnet.
..... "In the past two months, we've watched poorly trained, masked ICE agents put communities across the country in danger. In this state we have drawn a lone. No, not here," Sherrill said at a bill signing ceremony in Newark.
..... Another would codify into law the state's 2018 immigration trust directive that dramatically limited the cooperation of state and local police with federal immigration authorities. It represented a significant step for Sherrill, who refused to commit to taking such a step during her 2025 campaign against Republican rival Jack Ciattarelli. that wariness was also reflected in former Governor Phil Murphy, who in his final hours as governor in January [2026] refused to sign that Sherrill signed on march 25. [2026] At the bill signing ceremony, Sherrill was all defiance, expressing confidence that the Trump administrator's anti-immigrant zealotry will meet in a courtroom if it ever gets there.
..... "We know the administration has challenged some of these measure sin the past. We beat them in court then, and we're happy to meet them in court again if they decide to sue now," Sherrill said. "Nothing is going to stop us from standing up for New Jersey and against Donald Trump's overreach.
..... A third bill would have established data privacy protections for immigrant families.
Minneapolis shifted politics
..... The signing ceremony represents just how much the gorgon has shifted on the nation;s immigration debate. At the time of Trump's election to a second term, the public was largely on his side when it came to immigration enforcement.
..... He promised to deport violent criminals who threatened American communities. But then the fatal shooting by federal agents of two civilians, Renee Good and Alex Pretti in January [2026] changed that. suddenly, Trump's immigration agents were the threats to the community. Top Trump, officials foolishly described the victims as a domestic terrorists before gathering facts.
..... Public sentiment shifted. A Marist College poll conducted for NPR found that 65% of the public believed Trump's immigration enforcement "went too far." The term "ICE" became equaled with violence, disruption and federal power run amok. this downward spiral of public support coincided with a tailspin in popularity for Trump's handling of the economy and his tariff policy.
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The newly inaugurated Sherril quickly recognized the shift and went on the offensive, signing an executive order barring immigration agents from conduction enforcement activities on state property and creating a state portal for residents to report "harmful conduct" of ICE agents. And last week, [03/19/2026] Sherrill sued the federal government to block its plans to covert a warehouse in Roxbury into a massive migrant detention center.
..... Some immigrant advocates, however, argued that it was more than just Minneapolis that forced Sherrill's turnaround.
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Amy Torres, executive director of the New Jersey Immigrant Alliance said the bill signing was a "testament" to advocates" constant organizing and lobbying on the issue that prodded a governor who was "uncomfortable" with the issue into someone who is garnering headlines.
..... Torres argued that there is far more advocacy to come, and suggested that the lawsuit seeking to halt the Roxbury facility failed to adequately emphasize the long-term threat the facility poses for Roxbury and the state.
..... The lawsuit, she said, seemed too focused on the inadequate infrastructure and facilities proposed at the site - suggesting that the state would be satisfied if the operators agreed to dramatically increase the number of toilets, for example.
..... "There are no amount of toilets, sewage, infrastructure or regulation to make any detention center palatable in New Jersey," Torres said.
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Still, the March 25 [2026] event marked a further, transformation for Sherrill. Trump mocked Sherrill's first name during last year's [2025] campaign. Now. its unclear whether she will become the target of his wrath.
..... A Trump administration spokesman, Abigail Jackson, was defensive in an interview with the New Jersey Monitor, but far tamer and less combative than last year [2025] when ICE was on the march, "surging" in democratic cities.
..... "ICE officership facing a 1,300% increase in assaults because of dangerous, untrue smears by elected Democrats. Recently, an officer had his finger bitten off by a radical left-wing rioter. ICE officers act heroically to enforce the law and protect American communicators - local officials should work with them, not against them. Anyone doing otherwise is simply doing the bidding of criminal illegal aliens," Jackson said.
..... Those are hardly the fifing words uttered by Trump and his pres shop in the past. But perhaps Trump is too boogied down with the war in Iran to worry about his political enemies on the home front. Sanctuary cities and states are the least of his problems right now.