Show your face or else? NJ lawmakers pass explosive ICE crackdown bills

🏛️ NJ lawmakers passed 3 immigration bills after a heated Statehouse rally

😷 One measure would require officers, including ICE, to show their faces

⚖️ Debate intensifies over public safety, privacy, and immigration enforcement

TRENTON — Following a conservative rally outside the Statehouse, the Legislature passed three immigration measures aimed at making the trust directive a law and unmasking federal agents.

Under an overcast and rainy sky on Monday, Republican legislators, municipal leaders and representatives from Moms for Liberty and Turning Point USA were part of the Take Back New Jersey rally led by Assemblyman Paul Kanitra, R-Ocean.

The rally, initially delayed along with the legislative votes due to last month’s blizzard, was planned “in opposition to radical immigration bills being pushed in New Jersey.”

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After the rally, Kanitra continued railing against the measures on the Assembly floor.

In a video shared to Facebook, the Republican asks Democrats to agree to provide their own homes as shelter for unauthorized immigrants if they voted “yes” on the legislation.

Ultimately, the three bills were passed along party lines.

NJ measure would require ICE, officers to show identification

One measure would require law enforcement officers, including federal agents, to reveal their face when carrying out official duties.

The “Law Enforcement Officer Protection Act” (S3114/A1743) would require officers to provide sufficient identification prior to arresting or detaining an individual, such as a department-issued photo ID, a uniform bearing agency insignia, or a badge.

It allows exceptions for officers to wear facial coverings during undercover assignments, or as protection from chemical agents, for medical exemptions, or shielding severe weather.

Assemblywoman Dawn Fantasia, R-Sussex, said the measure would be challenged in court.

“We cannot interfere with federal operations,” Fantasia was quoted as saying by New Jersey Monitor. 

Data sharing limits and trust directive expansion

Another measure, the Privacy Protection Act (S5037/A6309) would close the loophole that allowed for data sharing between the state Motor Vehicle Commission, healthcare agencies and ICE.

A third bill, the Strengthening Trust Between Law Enforcement and Immigrant Communities Act (S5038/A6310), would codify the Immigrant Trust Directive, in effect statewide under the Attorney General’s Office since 2018.

It would ban any attempt by ICE to deputize local law enforcement agents to engage in immigration enforcement activities.

“The passage of these two bills underlines the state legislature’s recognition of rising authoritarianism and the need to act,” Lauren Herman, Legal Director of Make the Road New Jersey, said in a statement on the privacy protection and strengthening trust acts following actions.

Supporters cite safety, critics warn of enforcement limits

Supporters of ramped-up ICE efforts have said the goal is to target criminals.

Similarly, advocates of the Immigrant Trust Directive have stressed that it does not shield any criminal behavior.

Instead, the goal is to have members of communities not afraid of reporting crimes, for fear of being swept up and detained even as a victim or bystander.

Read More: Murphy shields immigrants from ICE arrests, but stops short

Bills head to governor's desk

In January, as one of his final actions, outgoing Gov. Phil Murphy pocket vetoed two of the measures.

Murphy said that as written, codifying the Immigrant Trust Directive and the Privacy Protection Act risked federal legal challenges.

After working their way through the Legislature this year, all three measures have been sent to the governor's desk for potential signing.

Gov. Mike Sherrill has said she supports codifying the immigrant trust directive as a law.

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