RAC-NJ: New Jersey Strengthens Immigrant Protections

On Wednesday, March 25, 2026, after over six years of hard work on the part of the New Jersey Alliance for Immigrant Justice and the partner organizations who make up its members, Gov. Mikie Sherrill signed two immigrant rights bills into law. The first bill, the Privacy Protection Act, provides protection for immigrants’ data that might otherwise be used by federal civil immigration authorities. The second bill, the Strengthening Trust Between Law Enforcement and Immigrant Communities Act, codifies New Jersey’s 2018 Attorney General’s Immigrant Trust Directive into law. Both bills passed both houses of the New Jersey State Legislature late on Monday afternoon. These bills complement the Safe Communities Act, which was signed into law by Governor Murphy on January 20, 2026, his final day in office.  

RAC-NJ celebrates that immigrant protections have been enacted into law even as we call on Governor Sherill and the Legislature to continue the work of providing meaningful harm reduction to the 1 in 4 New Jerseyans who are foreign-born. At the least, the legislature should send bills to the Governor’s desk that are at least as strong as the versions of the bills that were sent to Governor Murphy’s desk just over two months ago, in January of 2026. 

The Immigrant Trust Directive Codification Bill 

New Jersey now joins a handful of states in outlawing 287(g) agreements, that is, agreements in which local or state law enforcement agencies agree to enter into paid contracts to serve as additional foot soldiers in federal civil immigration enforcement. This protects children who attend public schools with School Resource Officers on campus, as well as communities across the state. Although the Attorney General banned such agreements in the 2018 Directive, until today that protection could have been rescinded by either Gov. Sherrill or Attorney General Davenport, acting alone. Now the New Jersey State Legislature would need to pass – and the Governor would need to sign – a new bill to remove such protection. Beyond banning 287(g) agreements, the bill limits New Jersey state and local law enforcement cooperation with federal civil immigration enforcement. 

Unfortunately, the bill also includes serious exceptions to that ban on cooperation. For example, the bill allows cooperation when a person who has interacted with law enforcement is subject to a so-called “final” order of detention. Our immigration attorney friends have shared that these so-called “final” orders are often not final, as they are entered by administrative judges and the subjects of such orders often have valid defenses – such as pending asylum claims and/or DACA status – that protect them from deportation despite the existence of such an administrative order. The version that made it to Governor Murphy’s desk in January explicitly prohibited cooperation if the only reason to cooperate was the existence of a final order of removal, but the version that Governor Sherrill signed today does not contain this protection. In addition, the bill signed into law today allows cooperation where a person has simply been accused – not convicted of – a long list of crimes. Not only does this stand the U.S. Constitution’s due process clause – that is, the idea that all people are presumed innocent until proven guilty – on its head, but in addition, in January, county prosecutors testified that this frustrates victims of crime on a regular basis as they never get to have the closure of participating the criminal prosecution process because the alleged perpetrator of the crime is detained and then deported, preventing the criminal process from moving forward.  

The Privacy Protection Act 

Similarly, we celebrate that the legislature passed the Privacy Protection Act into law, which prohibits sharing of a lot of sensitive information about people’s legal status, place of birth, and other data from being shared with federal civil immigration enforcement. In January, our partners were particularly excited that this included robust protection for automatic license plate reader data. The bill was written broadly enough that it would also protect people from out of state, whether citizens or foreign-born, with out-of-state law enforcement absent a judicial order. As it was originally sent to Governor Murphy’s desk in January, this meant that it would also protect data about non-New Jerseyans’ travel into or within New Jersey for other purposes, including the data of those coming to New Jersey seeking gender affirming or reproductive health care. Unfortunately, in the version signed into law today, that provision is substantially weaker. Judicial warrants are no longer required for such data to be shared with law enforcement from other states. Rather, those out-of-state agencies need only certify that they do not intend to use the data for the purpose of civil immigration enforcement, which means that they can use it to prosecute people traveling to New Jersey seeking gender-affirming or reproductive health care.  

Next Steps 

RAC-NJ is already at work on a mini-campaign in support of increasing New Jersey’s Detention and Deportation Defense Initiative Funding (DDDI). Since last year’s budget was introduced, federal immigration detention beds in New Jersey have increased from 300 to over 1,200 beds. That number does not include additional proposed detention facilities including at Joint Base Maguire-Dix-Lakehurst or the warehouse building purchased by ICE in Roxbury, New Jersey (right next to I-80), which will apparently house up to 2,000 additional people. New Jersey must have a signed budget bill by June 30, 2026 or our state government will be forced to shut down. On Wednesday, March 25, we testified in support of additional funding at the Assembly Budget Committee Hearing.  

Although the immigration bills signed into law today are far from perfect, they are a strong foundation for our Legislature and Governor to work from as they seek to meet the needs of the moment. This Passover, we will celebrate our people’s own immigration story. Across New Jersey, RAC-NJ leaders and congregations will sit at their Seder tables knowing that we have been part of helping to enact the words of Leviticus 19:33-34: “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.”