Graphic by Adrienne J. Romero / SOC Images. Background image by Reena Rose Sibayan / The Jersey Journal.
The Hudson County Board of Commissioners joins a growing list of local governments who are urging the New Jersey State Legislature and Gov. Phil Murphy to protect its undocumented community.
On Thursday, Sept. 25, the Board of Commissioners unanimously voted to pass a resolution supporting the New Jersey Senate Bill No. S-3672, better known as the “Immigrant Trust Act” (ITA), which establishes protections for immigrants interacting with government agencies. When attendees spoke to Slice of Culture after the meeting, they said it was a sigh of relief mixed with a feeling of excitement, but they emphasized that the job isn’t finished.
“I think if folks were worried that the [Hudson County] commissioners weren’t going to pass it, then this is definitely a good sign,” Ryan, of Spirit of Liberation (SOL) Jersey City, a local “resistance community,” told Slice of Culture.
“[And] it’s very easy to tell the state assembly to pass a law. It’s harder to actually do the work. And so I would just ask those folks, please lean in, please get involved so that we can continue to push them to actually put their money where their mouth is [and] do the important work of like putting together programs.”
With Hudson County now backing the ITA, it puts added pressure to the New Jersey State Legislature and Gov. Murphy to sign the bill into law. The bill would allow New Jerseyans access to public services without fear of deportation. It would also limit the state’s involvement with the federal detention and deportation system, implementing new data privacy protections and cementing the separation between local law enforcement and the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE).
The bill was introduced on Sept. 30, 2024 and is sponsored by District 37 (Bergen) Senator Gordon M. Johnson and District 33 (Hudson) Senator Brian P. Stack plus co-sponsors including Senator Angela McKnight and more. For the full bill, you can read it here.
Back at Thursday’s regular meeting in Jersey City, all but one speaker during public comment—who spoke on an unrelated matter—urged the commissioners to vote yes. After about five speakers, Commissioner and Chairperson Anthony L. Romano Jr. told attendees that the board had already decided to unanimously pass the resolution, which was adopted into the meeting’s agenda as item no. 32.
With that statement, attendees immediately let out their sigh of relief.
‘We’re In This Together’
When Naomi Betancourt was on her way to the meeting, she said she was scared: scared of not knowing what the county commissioners were going to vote.
But once Commissioner Romano told everyone their verdict, she was able to ease up.
“I do feel some sense of relief in my community, but it still hurts to see that others in other cities are still being impacted,” said Betancourt, who is originally of West New York and now lives in Jersey City.
“I just hope that this can be some sort of example for other cities and states to do the same thing. Because like I said before in my conversation when I was speaking with them, it’s very important that we’re able to show that to other cities that we should be using examples because these are still people at the end of the day, people have families and kids.”
Many of the speakers at the meeting referenced an incident that happened on Sept. 2 at Braddock Park—better known as Parque Ochenta or Park 80th—where a group of men were loitering and when the person recording asked what law enforcement they are with, no one responded. According to Title 8 § 287.8, via Center for American Progress, “only designated immigration officers are authorized to make an arrest,” and they are required to identify themselves as an immigration officer as soon as it is “practical and safe.” Under 10 USC 723, federal agents responding to “civil disturbances” must “visibly display” IDs and agency affiliation, unless exempted.
In the caption of the video from Sept. 2, it was reported that “ICE left, and to our knowledge, made no kidnappings in the park.”
Adrian Ghainda, who has been running for District 2 County Commissioner, explained that he comes from a family of immigrants; his parents didn’t get their citizenship until he was an adult. The Jersey City resident emphasized that it’s up to the community to hold those in power accountable and make sure they provide the services and resources they promise to assist families like his.
Lily Benavides, a Green Party write-in candidate for the state governor race, traveled from Morris County for the meeting because she said she “had to be here.” She added that people can be relieved with this “safeguard,” but there’s still a lot of work to do.
Courtney Walker and Paul Jaiga, both of Jersey City, echoed the same feeling.
“Right now we have a lot of protections in New Jersey, which are under executive orders that [Gov.] Phil Murphy signed, and we have a pretty tight [governor] race in November. And so you know, if those executive orders don’t continue after Murphy goes away, then we’re left with nothing. So we need our state to pass protections for every member of our community right now,” Walker said.
“Hopefully communities push together because at the end of the day, the government works for us, our local government, and then our federal government. And the only way we get things done is by voicing our opinions and voicing that stuff ain’t normal,” Jaiga added.
“We’re in this together and hopefully there’s enough people that are waking up to the degradation of not just law and immigration policy, but also the fact that [we should] care for each other [and] look out for your community.”
SOL Jersey City has an active “Neighborhood ICE Watch” with a rapid response hotline at (201)-616-2816. They also have educational material that educates the differences between a valid and invalid warrant, different ICE uniforms plus a “Defending our community” toolkit.
To stay up to date on the status of the bill, you can check the New Jersey Legislature website here.
