Dear Governor Murphy, Senate President Scutari, and Assembly Speaker Coughlin,
We, the undersigned organizations, are writing to express our strong support for Bill S3672/A4987, The Immigrant Trust Act. We respectfully ask you to schedule and pass this bill so that our state’s communities have safeguards in place as soon as possible during President Trump’s second term.
President Trump has made his intentions clear: mass deportations, widespread ICE raids, and the use of local law enforcement and National Guard troops to enforce immigration policies starting day one. These campaigns will devastate our state. We risk destruction of whole families and a permanent fear that will stretch across our communities for generations to come.
While President Trump has been known to exaggerate, the federal government is already well-equipped and preparing to execute his “mass deportation” promise. ICE and CBP already use publicly collected data[1] to strategize where to patrol and how to target and track individuals for raids and arrests. These federal agencies regularly use summonses to request data and information from health clinics, afterschool programs, and housing agencies. Thanks to your vision and leadership, New Jersey has already sent a clear message that we stand against immigrant detention by banning new and expanded ICE contracts and prohibiting our local jails from detaining people on behalf of ICE. But as law AB5207 continues to face legal threat[2], and as mega corporations like Core Civic and GEO Group eye the opportunity[3] to make our state[4] the detention capital for the Northeast, we urge you to act now.
In New Jersey, nearly one in four residents is foreign born.[5] Over 40% of our children come from immigrant families.[6] A mass deportation campaign and an expansion of immigration detention will have permanent repercussions beyond the four years that President Trump returns to the White House. States like California have already called a special session to prioritize bills that will safeguard communities from the threats that will soon come from Washington. We ask that New Jersey act with similar urgency and schedule this bill for hearings and a vote now.
The Immigrant Trust Act will not stop all the threats headed our way, but it will help protect immigrant residents from unnecessary exposure to federal immigration officers. Specifically, S3672/A4987 requires State government entities in the Executive Branch that provide direct services to expand critical privacy protections. Immigration-related questions will only be asked when necessary to determine eligibility for a service, and law enforcement agencies will be prohibited from voluntarily sharing personal information with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). This is not only a necessary protection, but once it becomes law, it will send a clear message: New Jersey is a place for all of us.
In addition to these protections, New Jersey must ensure our communities have every available tool to defend themselves and fight back. As the State of the State and Governor’s Budget Address approach, we urge an investment of $19.5 million in the Detention and Deportation Defense Initiative (DDDI) program. This funding is essential to begin addressing the existing need and to help the program prepare for the challenges ahead. By allocating these resources now and enacting these urgent protections, the State is not just protecting its families: it will protect its workforce, its economy, its schools, and the institutions that sustain our society.
Our organizations represent many sectors: faith, labor, direct service, community-based, and grassroots organizations. We each represent a different part of New Jersey, but we share a common interest: keeping the Garden State a place where all families can bloom, regardless of immigration status. We ask that you immediately schedule the Immigrant Trust Act (S3672/A4987)[7] for committee hearings and a vote, and to swiftly move to pass and sign this urgent bill into law.
In President Trump’s first term in office, New Jersey sent a clear message about our values by issuing the Immigrant Trust Directive to shield our communities from harm. Let’s welcome him back by making the Immigrant Trust Act law.
Signed,
New Jersey Alliance for Immigrant Justice
1199SEIU
32BJSEIU
AAPI New Jersey
ACCESS Family Services, Inc
Action Together New Jersey
Adhikaar for Human Rights and Social Justice
American Civil Liberties Union New Jersey
American Families United
American Friends Service Committee | New Jersey Immigrants Rights Program
Americans for Peace Now
Beacon Unitarian Universalist Congregation
Bend The Arc Jewish Action: South Jersey
BlueWaveNJ
Bulletproof Pride
Community Affairs and Resource Center New Jersey
Council on American-Islamic Relations - New Jersey
Casa Freehold
CATA - The Farmworker Support Committee
Cherry Hill Women's Center
Christ Episcopal Church in Bloomfield & Glen Ridge
Church World Service
Climate Revolution Action Network
Coalition for Change in NJ
Deportation & Immigration Response Equipo Legal Services
Detention Watch Network
Education Law Center
El Pueblo Unido of Atlantic City
Fair Share Housing Center
Faith in New Jersey
Faith+Works Unitarian Universalist Congregation of Orange
Family Voices New Jersey
First Friends of New Jersey & New York
Focus Hispanic Center for Community Development, Inc.
Fort Lee Chinese Americans
Free Migration Project
Fuerza Migrante
Garden State Equality
Gloucester County National Association for the Advancement of Colored People
Hackettstown Drinking Liberally
Haiti Solidarity Network of the Northeast
Homes for All Newark
Housing and Community Development Network of New Jersey
IfNotNow New Jersey
Immigration Community Outreach
Indivisible Central New Jersey
Indivisible Highland Park New Jersey
Indivisible Lambertville New Hope
Indivisible New Jersey 5th District
Indivisible Rahway
Ironbound Community Corporation
Isles, Inc.
Jewish Voice for Peace Northern New Jersey
La Casa de Don Pedro
Latin American Legal Defense and Education Fund
Latina Civic Action
Latino Action Network Foundation
Latino Institute, Inc.
Lawrence Citizen Activists
Lazos America Unida
League of Women Voters of New Jersey
Lutherans Engaging in Advocacy New Jersey
Madison Area Call to Action
Make The Road New Jersey
Marianist Social Justice
Migrante New Jersey
Minkwon Center for Community Action
National Domestic Workers Alliance
New Jersey Appleseed Public Interest Law Center
New Jersey Citizen Action
New Jersey Coalition to End Domestic Violence
New Jersey Forum for Human Rights
New Jersey Harm Reduction Coalition
New Jersey Institute for Social Justice
New Jersey Policy Perspective
New Jersey Religious Action Center of Reform Judaism
New Jersey 11th for Change
New Jersey Work Environment Council
New Jersey Working Families Alliance
New Jersey Teachers of English to Speakers of other Languages/New Jersey Bilingual Educators
New Jersey Time To Care Coalition
New Jersey Voters Want More Say
New Labor
Northern New Jersey Sanctuary Coalition
New York-New Jersey Pachamama Alliance Community
Occupy Bergen County
OneNJ7
Our Revolution NJ
Palestinian American Community Center
Palestinian Assembly for Liberation New York/New Jersey
Partners for Women and Justice, Inc.
Pax Christi New Jersey
Peaceful Minds Haven
Planned Parenthood Action Fund of New Jersey
Piscataway Progressive Democratic Organization
Princeton Students for Prison Education, Abolition and Reform
Resistencia en Acción New Jersey
She Matters
South Jersey Democratic Socialists of America
Statewide Parent Advocacy Network
St. Mark’s Hispanic Mission Sea Girt
SWEEP New Jersey
Teaneck Peace and Justice Coalition
The HUUB of the First Unitarian Universalist Church of Essex County
The Lighthouse for Asylum-Seekers
The Mami Chelo Foundation, Inc.
The Party for Socialism and Liberation - New Jersey
The Reformed Church of Highland Park
Unitarian Universalist FaithAction NJ
University of Orange
Urban Promise Trenton, Inc.
Volunteer Lawyers for Justice
Vote Solar
Welcome Home Jersey City
Wind of the Spirit Immigrant Resource Center
Women Aware
WomenRising, Inc
Young Women's Christian Association Northern New Jersey
www.njimmigrantjustice.org | 17 Academy Street Newark, NJ 07102 | info@njimmigrantjustice.org |
[3] Hetzner, Trump’s election win sends private prisons stocks soaring as investors anticipate hard crackdown on migration
[4] American Civil Liberties Union, FOIA Documents re: NJ ICE Detention RFI
[5] American Immigration Council, Immigrants in New Jersey
[6] Migration Policy Institute, New Jersey’s Immigrant and U.S. Born Parents of Young and Elementary School Age Children
[7]S. 3672 or A. 4987, 2024-2025 Leg., Reg. Sess. (N.J. 2024)