NJ immigrant advocates are touring the state to demand 'ICE out of NJ'

Ricardo Kaulessar

Immigrant advocates from across New Jersey are traveling the state to demand that local and state officials stop collaborating with federal immigration authorities and protect immigrant communities in their towns.

ICE Out of NJ, a coalition of grassroots immigrant rights organizations and community members, will be doing a "Justice Bus Tour" on March 27 in the Garden State.

From 7 a.m. to 8:30 p.m., a bus carrying the immigrant advocates will make stops in Atlantic City, Trenton, Freehold, New Brunswick, North Bergen and Roxbury to hold rallies and press conferences calling for several actions: no police/ICE collaboration or surveillance, no detention center contracts, an end to raids, limits on ICE access to public resources and full legal funding for immigrant communities.

In Roxbury, there will be a vigil at 7:30 p.m. to oppose a proposed immigrant detention center in the Morris County town, as well as remember more than 60 individuals who have died in Immigration and Customs Enforcement custody nationwide since President Donald Trump returned to the White House in January 2025.

Immigrant advocates in Trenton will host at 9:30 a.m. what they describe as a "symbolic marriage ceremony between ICE and local police to denounce several instances of collaboration between immigration authorities and Trenton police" at a local church.

Jorge Torres, an organizing director for the National Day Laborer Organizing Network, said in a statement that the bus tour is a "call to action."

"Our officials must pass the protections that community members are demanding. We demand ICE OUT OF NJ," Torres said.

Asma Elhuni, an organizer with the immigrants' rights group Resistencia en Acción NJ, said in a statement, “We are taking action because due process is being stripped away from our communities every day. People are being handed over to ICE without hearings. The Constitution must apply to all of us equally.”

The action comes two days after Gov. Mikie Sherrill signed several immigrant protection bills that require law enforcement officers to show their faces and present identification before detaining or arresting someone, codify the state attorney general’s Immigrant Trust Directive, and limit health care facilities and government agencies from collecting personal information, including immigration status.

Ricardo Kaulessar covers race, immigration, and culture for NorthJersey.com. For unlimited access to the most important news from your local community, please subscribe or activate your digital account today.

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Twitter/X: @ricardokaul