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1.13.25 - Immigrant Trust Act - Org Sign On Letter
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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


[1] Mehrotra, ICE Records Reveal How Agents Abuse Access to Secret Data

[2] Corecivic, Inc. v. Governor of New Jersey, No. 23-2598 (3d Cir. filed Jan. 4, 2024)

[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)