New Jersey Becomes the 10th State with a Law Barring Local ICE Contracts – Bolts

New Jersey Governor Mikie Sherrill on Wednesday signed legislation banning local law enforcement agencies from partnering with federal immigration authorities, making it the 10th state to adopt laws that prohibit such collaboration. 

The new law codifies a 2018 order by then-Attorney General Gurbir Grewal, known as the Immigrant Trust Directive. That directive barred state and local authorities from entering into ICE’s 287(g) program, which deputizes local officers to enforce federal immigration laws. It also restricted law enforcement from detaining people on ICE’s behalf and asking about citizenship status when it doesn’t relate to a criminal investigation.

The directive forced several local sheriffs to end their partnerships with ICE but it was not codified into law, worrying immigrants’ rights advocates that a governor and attorney general more favorable to Donald Trump’s deportation agenda could come into office and undo those rules. The GOP’s candidate for governor last fall campaigned on ending the 2018 directive and ramping up partnerships with ICE, but he lost to Sherrill by a large margin.

Nedia Morsy, director of immigrant advocacy organization Make the Road New Jersey, told Bolts that the adoption of the law this week signals that “the state legislature and the [Sherrill] administration is recognizing that there is rising authoritarianism and there is a need to act.”

New Jersey joins nine other blue states—California, Connecticut, Delaware, Illinois, Maryland, Maine, New Mexico, Oregon, and Washington—in prohibiting participation in the 287(g) program. It’s the fourth state to do this so far this year.

Four states governed by Democrats, including neighboring Massachusetts and New York, still have local or state agencies with 287(g) contracts, though a bill to restrict those agreements is currently on the governor’s desk in Virginia. 

Sherrill also signed two other pieces of legislation aimed at protecting New Jersey’s immigrants: The Privacy Protection Act, which restricts when local and state agencies can collect information about immigration status or share it with the federal government; another law requires ICE agents to show their faces and provide identification before making an arrest. 

“My focus as governor remains on keeping the public safe,” Sherrill said in a statement her spokesperson sent to Bolts on Wednesday after the governor signed the legislation. “As we’ve seen across the country, Donald Trump’s untrained, unaccountable, masked ICE agents are putting people in danger. That’s why in New Jersey, we are protecting our communities—strengthening our protections, banning ICE agents from wearing masks, and protecting residents’ privacy from federal overreach.”

Immigrant rights advocates in New Jersey had long pushed for legislation guarding against ICE abuses, and in January lawmakers passed another bill that codified the Immigrant Trust Directive and also created additional protections.

In one of his final acts in office, Democratic Governor Phil Murphy vetoed the legislation, saying he feared that it would prompt new lawsuits from the Trump administration. Two federal courts, including a Trump-appointed judge, have already upheld the AG’s existing directive, but Murphy said provisions of the bill went beyond that directive and could still invite legal challenges. 

The legislation signed by Sherrill more closely mirrors the Immigrant Trust Directive than the bill that Murphy vetoed in January.

While the legislation still largely prohibits local authorities from keeping someone in jail just because ICE requests it, the version Sherrill signed allows for broader exceptions because it says jails can honor ICE’s detention requests when someone is subject to a final order of removal. Jails can also honor these requests when someone has been convicted of a crime.

In a public statement on Wednesday, Sherrill sounded defiant about defeating any lawsuits over the reform.

“We know the Trump administration has challenged some of these measures in the past,” the governor wrote. “We beat them in court then—and we’re happy to meet them in court again if they decide to sue now.”

New Jersey already banned local jails and sheriffs from entering into Intergovernmental Service Agreements, or IGSAs, to rent out space for ICE to detain immigrants, but a federal appeals court last year allowed private detention centers to continue operating in the state. The centers have drawn large protests over the last year. 

Immigrants’ rights advocates say they’ll keep pressing for additional protections in the state. “As the Trump administration attempts to erode due process protections, it is more important than ever that New Jersey affirmatively stands up for them,” said Ami Kachalia, campaign strategist for the ACLU of New Jersey. She would like to see increased funding for immigrants facing deportations to access legal counsel.

Morsy said that Make the Road New Jersey will continue to educate local officials on how they can protect against ICE. In Hoboken, for example, the city council adopted an ordinance that restricts the city from using its resources on federal immigration enforcement. 

She said her organization plans to stress to local officials that they shouldn’t provide assistance to ICE unless there’s a warrant signed by a judge. They could also agree to commit to reviewing all of their vendors to ensure that data isn’t being shared with ICE, Morsy added.

“I do think it’s important to remember that these bills set a standard for protection, but they aren’t the ceiling,” she said. “Elected officials at all levels of government have the opportunity and are still called to make a very honest assessment about the need and the urgency to go beyond this standard.”