Gov. Mikie Sherrill (D-NJ) vowed her administration will create a database for New Jerseyans to upload videos of federal immigration officers conducting enforcement activities.
The governor announced several initiatives to roll back the influence of Immigration and Customs Enforcement in New Jersey on her ninth day in office. Sherrill has already met with her acting Attorney General, Jennifer Davenport, regarding the policy initiatives, she said during an appearance on The Daily Show.
“We are putting out information on helping New Jerseyans know their rights. We are not going to allow any ICE raids to be staged from state properties. And we are also going to be standing up a portal so people can upload all their cellphone videos and alert people,” Sherrill said.
Sherrill made the announcement while sharply condemning the recent Minneapolis killings of Alex Pretti and Renee Good at the hands of federal officers, each of which was documented on video and shared on social media platforms.
“If you see an ICE agent in the street, get your phone out,” Sherrill said. “We want to know. Because they have not been forthcoming. They will pick people up. They will not tell us who they are. They will not tell us if they are here legally. They won’t check. They’ll pick up American citizens — they picked up a five-year-old. We want documentation, and we are going to make sure we get it.”
When asked when and how the governor would implement these policies, Sean Higgins, a spokesman for Sherrill’s office, said an announcement would be made “in the coming days.”
“Keeping New Jerseyans safe is Governor Sherrill’s top priority and, in the coming days, she and acting Attorney General Davenport will announce additional actions to protect New Jerseyans from federal overreach,” Higgins said.
DHS and ICE did not respond to the Washington Examiner‘s requests for comment.
In her first two weeks on the job, Sherrill has become the latest Democratic governor to mark herself and her policies as a counterweight to President Donald Trump‘s and Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem‘s immigration enforcement tactics.
Following Pretti’s death, the White House, Gov. Tim Walz (D-MN), and local Minneapolis officials have been in “productive” communications about how to de-escalate the tensions between anti-ICE protesters and federal law enforcement in the Twin Cities.
HOMAN SAYS FEDERAL ‘DRAWDOWN’ EXPECTED AFTER TALKING WITH MINNESOTA LEADERS
White House border czar Tom Homan landed in Minneapolis this week at the order of Trump to do just that. Homan announced a federal officer “drawdown” in Minnesota on Thursday.
“This is common-sense cooperation that allows us to draw down the number of people we have here. Yes, I said it. Draw down the number of people here,” Homan said in a press conference on Thursday.