Jewish Clergy Letter in Support of Immigrant Protections Bill Package

New Jersey is experiencing immoral federal civil immigration enforcement.

In 2025 alone, ICE conducted warrantless raids in Newark and Woodbridge, detaining undocumented residents and U.S. citizens, including a military veteran and mothers of school-aged children. That same year, GEO Group reopened Delaney Hall in Newark under an ICE contract. A lawful congressional oversight visit to the facility led to charges against Rep. LaMonica McIver and the arrest of Newark Mayor Ras Baraka. In December, Jean Wilson Brutus, a 41-year-old man held at Delaney Hall, died after a reported medical emergency in custody.

Federal authorities also approved plans to detain up to 3,000 immigrants at Joint Base McGuire-Dix-Lakehurst and, according to The Washington Post, to expand detention to as many as 80,000 people nationwide, including a proposed site in Roxbury, New Jersey.

As a result, many immigrant families now live in fear that ordinary interactions with schools, hospitals, shelters, police, or libraries could lead to detention or deportation. This fear is not abstract. It separates families, discourages parents from seeking medical care for their children, keeps students out of school, and silences survivors of violence.

This fear erodes the common good.

The newly-introduced immigrant protection bill package consists of three bills that collectively draw a clear and necessary distinction between the responsibilities of New Jersey's public agencies - whose mission is to protect, heal, educate, and serve - and the work of federal civil immigration enforcement.

• The Safe Communities Act, A6308, calls on the New Jersey Office of the Attorney General to develop model policies around sensitive locations, with the intention of ensuring that all New Jerseyans can safely access essential services such as schools, houses of worship, healthcare facilities, food pantries, libraries, and social services.

• The Privacy Protection Act, A6309, would establish data privacy protections at New Jersey agencies and health care facilities, ensuring that data regarding immigrants' status is only collected when necessary to administer a program and creating standards around confidentiality and disclosure. It would also reaffirm safeguards around the sharing of Motor Vehicle Commission (MVC) and Automatic License Plate Reader (ALPR) data.

• The Strengthening Trust Between Law Enforcement and Immigrant Communities Act, A6310, would preserve the Office of the Attorney General's Immigrant Trust Directive as well as add changes to better ensure that all New Jerseyans are afforded their full due process rights under the United States Constitution.

This bill package, if enacted, will promote the safety, stability, and the flourishing of all New Jersey families.

As Jews, our commitment to this work is rooted deeply in our sacred tradition. The Torah commands us at least 36 times to protect and love the ger-the immigrant, the sojourner, the person who is vulnerable in our midst. "The stranger who resides with you shall be to you as one of your citizens; you shall love them as yourself, for you were strangers in the land of Egypt" (Leviticus 19:33-34). Our people's story begins with displacement. Our memory is shaped by persecution, migration, and the yearning for safety.

Our values compel us to build a society in which all people-regardless of immigration status-can seek medical care without fear, send their children to school without hesitation, call for help in an emergency without risk, and participate fully in the life of our communities. While only the members of the United States Congress can comprehensively address our nation's broken immigration system, in the face of federal civil immigration overreach, the above-described immigrant protection bill package can provide meaningful harm reduction for the 1 in 4 New Jerseyans who are foreign born.

We therefore call on the New Jersey Legislature to swiftly pass this bill package, and we urge people of all faiths and moral traditions to join us in supporting this crucial legislation. At a time when fear is too often used as a political tool, our state must choose a different path-one grounded in justice, compassion, and the belief that every person deserves to feel safe accessing the services that sustain the health and well-being of their families.

Let us affirm together that New Jersey is a place where trust is strengthened, families are protected, and human dignity remains our guiding value.

1. Rabbi Joel Abraham, Interim Rabbi, Temple Beth Miriam, Long Branch

2. Rabbi Richard Address, Director, Jewish Sacred Aging, Cherry Hill

3. Rabbi Jacob Adler, Rabbi, Congregation Kehilat Shalom, Belle Mead