Former-Gov. Murphy Faces Backlash For NJ Immigration Bill Vetoes

It seems leaving the office of the Governor of New Jersey doesn’t clear you of criticism quite yet.

On Tuesday morning, in his last act of office, former Governor Phil Murphy signed more than 120 bills into law and also vetoed several.

Two of the bills he vetoed were tied to protecting immigrants and limiting the power of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) in New Jersey, which was met with scrutiny from several civil rights activists.

The bills came together in a trio dubbed “The Immigrant Protection Bill Package.” Murphy signed one of the bills into law, calling it the “Safe Communities Act,” but two of them were pocket vetoed.

The Safe Communities Act, or Bill A6308, designates areas including schools, hospitals, shelters, courthouses, places of worship, and more as locations in which federal civil law enforcement initiatives could not be carried out.

The bill only applies to federal civil law enforcement actions, not to criminal investigations. Bill A6308 would protect not those who have committed a crime, but those who have committed a civil offense, such as entering the United States without the proper paperwork.

See the two vetoed immigration bills below:

Bill A6309, "The Privacy Protection Act"

This bill would restrict local law enforcement from disclosing the immigration status of residents to ICE agents within their jurisdiction. It would've prohibited the collection of private details, including immigration status, place of birth, Social Security number, and individual taxpayer identification number.

Murphy's administration said that a drafting oversight would result in the need for agencies, specifically those in healthcare, to amend their confidentiality policies across the board, and could also "jeopardize billions of dollars of federal funding."

“I was hopeful that we would be able to get this personal data privacy protection bill across the finish line during the final days of my term, as I strongly support the rationale behind this legislation,” said Murphy. “Unfortunately, upon further review of the legislation, we discovered a drafting oversight that could create significant complications when it comes to advancing our shared goal of protecting New Jersey’s immigrant communities.”

Murphy added that it is too late to amend the Privacy Protection Act's language and sign it into law before the legislative session ends. His administration recommended amendments to lawmakers, and the former governor hopes it will be reintroduced and "signed into law at the soonest possible opportunity."

Bill A6310, Codifying the Immigrant Trust Directive

This bill would've codified New Jersey's Immigrant Trust Directive, along with adding policies that Murphy believed "could result in diminished vital protections for immigrants."

The Immigrant Trust Directive, created in 2018, is a policy that essentially restricts New Jersey police officers from assisting in ICE raids and inquiring about a person's immigration status. The directive is meant to allow people, regardless of their citizenship status, to feel safe when reporting crimes and dealing with local, county, or state law enforcement.

Murphy calls the directive, in its current form, "one of the greatest successes of our Administration."

Under the proposed bill, however, the directive would include amendments, one of which would no longer require law enforcement to notify federal authorities, like ICE, when a person whose citizenship is invalid is released from local or state custody after being charged with a crime.

Murphy says the amended Immigration Trust Directive would put a federal litigation target on the back of New Jersey, leaving room to forgo the directive altogether.

“I am extremely concerned that signing this bill, which differs from the Immigrant Trust Directive, would open New Jersey up to a new court challenge and renewed judicial scrutiny from judges who may not render the same decision upholding these critical protections,” Murphy said. “Renewed litigation would also put our time-tested Immigrant Trust Directive at risk, endangering hundreds of thousands of immigrants in New Jersey in one fell swoop. I cannot in good conscience allow that to happen.”

Backlash

Several advocacy groups, which have aired support for the bill package, have criticized the former governor for not signing the aforementioned bills.

Representatives from the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) were grateful to Murphy for passing the Safe Communities Act, but cited the growing ICE activity in the Garden State when expressing concerns for the vetoed bills.

"In failing to sign these bills, Governor Murphy has left New Jersey without critical protections at a moment when ICE is brutalizing our communities," said ACLU-NJ Executive Director Amol Sinha. "These bills were legally sound, politically viable, and commonsense policy."

Also criticizing the former governor's decision was the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), of which one representative said, "Signing one bill while blocking the others is not leadership - it is a deliberate choice to leave families exposed.”

Additionally, Make the Road NJ Executive Director Nedia Morsy called the decision "a betrayal to the thousands of immigrants, community leaders, and advocates who fought for the last year to keep us safe."

A common thread to most of the advocacy groups' responses to Murphy's vetoes was calling on freshly sworn-in Governor Mikie Sherrill to take action.

“We call on Governor Sherrill to join us in the fight for justice and liberty for all and build on the success of the Murphy administration," said Sungkwan Jang of One Boat Coalition. "As she said, we in New Jersey are the first ones to see the sun rise over the Statue of Liberty. Together, let us put that to action.”

"We call on Governor-elect Sherrill, her administration, and the Legislature to establish data privacy protections and ensure state and local resources are not commandeered for federal immigration enforcement," Sinha of the ACLU added.

Support of the Vetoes

Republican lawmakers have expressed support for Murphy's veto decision, including Assemblyman Paul Kanitra (R-10), who called the bills "horrible pieces of legislation."

"The press releases may say (Murphy) was worried about lawsuits, but the truth is that all of us exposed how bad these bills were for New Jersey, and it created enough awareness to stop them in their tracks," Kanitra said. "If there's a lesson to be learned here for the future, it's pay attention and do your part, no matter how big or small it is. Together, we can make a difference."

Another critic of the bills is Assemblyman Greg Myhre (R-9), who said the Immigration Trust Directive is "a dangerous policy that blocks our local police from cooperating with federal immigration enforcement."