TRENTON – Senator Nia H. Gill (D-Essex/Passaic) issued the following statement in response to comments today by President Trump celebrating raids carried out by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and describing them as “a military operation.” The Senator is sponsoring legislation (S-3005) to prohibit law enforcement agencies and state or county correctional facilities from coordinating with ICE to detain or transfer nonviolent offenders at the request of federal authorities:
“The President’s approach to immigration enforcement by federal agencies as ‘a military operation’ is reprehensible and should be condemned in the strongest way possible. He is launching an assault against immigrants in this country without regard for the consequences of those actions.
“If the president’s goal is to use ICE to conduct military operations, this only heightens the need to take action at the state level. We need to protect our communities, starting with ensuring that law enforcement authorities do not use local taxpayer resources to carry out or assist with Trump’s misguided policies that disregard the constitutional rights of residents and seek to tear families apart.”