New Jersey can block ICE from entering state property, a federal judge ruled
The federal government can't force the Garden State to assist ICE in immigration enforcement, U.S. District Judge Georgette Castner wrote in the opinion dismissing the case.
An executive order signed by New Jersey Gov. Mikie Sherrill blocking federal immigration agents from using nonpublic state property does not violate the constitution, a federal judge ruled Friday.
U.S. District Judge Georgette Castner dismissed the lawsuit by President Donald Trump’s administration against Sherrill over her executive order banning Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents from “entering accessing, or using nonpublic areas” of state-owned property without a court order.
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The February order also prohibits New Jersey agencies from allowing ICE to use state property as a “staging area, processing location, or operation base” for immigration operations.
The Department of Justice sued New Jersey and Sherrill days after she signed the order, accusing the governor of “blatant disregard for federal laws” and taking a “deliberate action that jeopardizes the public safety of All Americans.”
“Gov. Mikie Sherrill aims to intentionally obstruct federal law enforcement and celebrates thwarting the constitutional obligation of the President of the United States to take care that federal immigration law be faithfully executed,” the suit says.
But the Garden State is not required to assist the federal government in immigration enforcement, Castner wrote while dismissing the case.
“Congress contemplated state assistance in federal immigration enforcement, but it contemplated that assistance on a voluntary basis. The fact that New Jersey has decided not to volunteer — in the limited context of [the executive order] — is in accordance, not in conflict, with Congress’s design,” the Joe Biden-appointed judge wrote.
And DOJ did not prove its claim that ICE would need to “entirely transform” its operations as a result of the order, Castner said.
The Justice Department did not respond to a request for comment.
ICE’s “untrained agents” are not making New Jersey safer, Sherrill said in a statement.
“Once again, Trump tried to stop us, and once again we won,” the governor said.
Civil rights and immigration advocacy organizations also celebrated Castner’s decision.
The ruling assures that immigrants in New Jersey can use state resources, according to a statement by Jeanne LoCicero, legal director for the ACLU of New Jersey.
“All New Jerseyans deserve to feel safe when they enter state-owned property, and New Jersey has the authority to ensure that safety,” LoCicero said.
» READ MORE: Philly can’t force ICE agents to unmask, federal judge rules
The Trump administration has sued cities and states that enacted restrictions on ICE, and so far it has achieved mixed results.
Judges dismissed suits challenging provisions that prohibit local cooperation with ICE agents under the constitutional principal rooted in the Tenth Amendment that the federal government can’t force states to enforce federal laws.
But judges also blocked state and local laws that more directly dictate what ICE agents can or can’t do, such as Philadelphia’s ordinance prohibiting law enforcement officers from concealing their identity.
A Philly-based district judge ruled in July that the city did not have the authority to unmask ICE and other law enforcement agents.
A DOJ lawsuit against New Jersey’s mask ban for law enforcement, which Sherrill signed into law in March, is pending.
