January 16, 2026
Kevin R. Wexler/Imagn Images
Immigration groups have called on New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy to sign three bills strengthening immigrant protections before his term ends. Activists protest outside the state's Delaney Hall detention facility in the image above.
More than 100 advocacy groups are urging New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy to sign a package of bills that would strengthen protections for immigrants before he leaves office.
The three bills landed on his desk after passing the state Senate on Monday. The Privacy Protection Act would limit the circumstances in which government agencies and health care facilities can ask for an individual's immigration or citizenship status. the Safe Communities Act would direct the attorney general to create a set of policies to ensure "personal freedom" at schools, courthouses and other "sensitive locations." The third bill would codify an existing directive from the attorney general that law enforcement officers not detain or question anyone based solely on suspected immigration status. It also limits assistance with federal immigration authorities.
Murphy already has responded to the Privacy Protection Act with a conditional veto, which objects to only parts of the bill. The governor indicated he would sign it if the text is updated. He requested lawmakers explicitly grant professional and occupational boards permission to solicit or gather information on a person's immigration status, and shift liability for violating the act from individual employees onto the government agencies and health systems.
Advocates pressed Murphy to approve the legislative package in a letter published Friday. It has 126 signatories, including local chapters of the American Civil Liberties Union, Council on American-Islamic Relations and NAACP. Labor unions, churches and select groups affiliated with Rutgers University also signed.
The letter describes the "terror" that immigrant families in New Jersey have faced under the Trump administration, which "turbocharged" the Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency with an additional $75 billion in funding last year. It cites statistics from the Prison Policy Initiative that show ICE detained more than 6,000 state residents between January and October 2025. Immigration detention capacity in New Jersey also expanded drastically with the opening of Delaney Hall, a 1,000-bed facility in Newark.
"We know of even more New Jerseyans living in fear in the shadows and who must make impossible choices daily – to forgo health care in an emergency, to keep children home from school, to not fight their wage theft case or seek assistance from law enforcement – because of the risk to their safety," the letter reads.
"This is the reality for far too many New Jerseyans, and while you cannot stop ICE enforcement in New Jersey, you can make certain that New Jersey is doing everything in its power to protect and stand with its residents."
Murphy's term ends Jan. 20.
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