Federal authorities execute a search for illegal immigration violations in Mississippi, Jan. 2025. (Credit: Dept. of Homeland Security)
Brick Township officials said this week that they will continue to comply with state laws and policies set by the attorney general on the extent to which township police officers can assist federal authorities in the enforcement of immigration laws.
After promising during his first gubernatorial campaign that New Jersey would become a “sanctuary state,” Gov. Phil Murphy supported the attorney general’s creation of a policy known as the Immigrant Trust Directive. The directive greatly limits the type of assistance and cooperation local, county and state law enforcement can provide to Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and other federal agencies that enforce immigration laws. Under the directive, police are prohibited from complying with ICE detainers that request arrestees in the country illegally be held until federal authorities can review their cases or detain them. Additionally, jails can only notify ICE of a criminal suspect’s release if their alleged crime is “serious” in nature, delineating such crimes as murder, rape, arson, assault or domestic violence. Even in those cases, however, jails may only detain the party until 11:59 p.m. the day of their previously-scheduled release.
Unlike many states, New Jersey police officers may not be deputized as ICE agents to directly assist in the enforcement of immigration laws. Then-attorney general Gurbir Grewal said at the time said the policy was designed to “create an environment where residents feel safe around our officers, whether they’re reporting a crime or simply striking up a conversation.”
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Brick Mayor Lisa Crate said she met with Police Chief David Forrester this week to obtain an update on the department’s policies and whether federal agencies had conducted any enforcement efforts in town. Crate said she received numerous questions from residents on the issue.
“Right now, Brick Township is following the rules of the Immigrant Trust Directive that was put out by the state of New Jersey back in 2018,” Crate said. “It’s the same directive that’s in place now, which essentially says that officers are not deputized to, essentially, be part of ICE and to go out and enforce whatever they’re doing. Other than that, they can assist if there are people who have broken the law.”
During the tenure of former Mayor John Ducey, the township council adopted a resolution declaring that Brick was not a “sanctuary city.”
“During Mayor Ducey’s term – he was here and I was on council – we did have a resolution that Brick Township was not considered not a sanctuary city or town,” Crate said.
The township must still comply with state laws or risk litigation, however.
“If there’s an immigrant who has broken the law and they (federal agents) ask for assistance to obtain that person, then the police will work with them, but just doing regular work that ICE would do, the police are not a part of that,” said Crate.
Forrester said that there has been no immigration enforcement in Brick as part of a national enforcement effort that began after the inauguration of President Donald Trump, who campaigned on tough immigration policies and the deportation of criminal aliens.
“We haven’t had anything happening in the township,” Crate said. “ICE hasn’t come into Brick Township at this point, so we have not had any real connection to it at this point.”
It is estimated by the Pew Research Center that New Jersey has about 475,000 illegal immigrants, comprising about 22 percent of the state’s total immigrant population and 5 percent of the population as a whole. The U.S. census estimates Brick has an overall foreign-born population of just 8.3 percent, which translates to an extremely limited number of individuals who do not maintain legal status.
