Murphy signs ‘Safe Communities Act,’ kills two other New Jersey immigration bills (updated)
New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy on Tuesday signed a law that requires the state to set clear rules limiting immigration enforcement activities in places where people go for essential services — such as schools, hospitals, courthouses, and houses of worship — while allowing two other immigration-related bills to expire without his signature.
The bill he signed, known as the Safe Communities Act, requires the attorney general to develop and publish model policies designed to ensure that designated locations remain accessible to residents regardless of immigration status. The law takes effect immediately.
Under the legislation, the attorney general must consult with relevant stakeholders when developing the policies. Certain state departments and agencies will then be required to adopt the model policies, or policies providing equal or greater protections, within 180 days of their issuance. Agencies must also make the policies publicly available.
The law also requires the attorney general to develop a separate model policy specifically for houses of worship.
Murphy declined to sign two additional immigration-related bills during the final 10 days of the legislative session, resulting in pocket vetoes under the state Constitution.
The first bill, A6309/S5037, would have limited the collection and sharing of certain personal information, including immigration status, place of birth, Social Security numbers, and individual taxpayer identification numbers, by state and local government entities and health care facilities. The legislation also addressed consent requirements for the disclosure of records, restrictions on sharing motor vehicle data, and civil liability for violations.
Murphy said his administration identified a drafting error in the bill that could cause conflicts with federal law. He said the bill, as written, could jeopardize billions of dollars in federal funding tied to compliance requirements. With no time remaining in the session to amend the legislation, he said he could not sign it.
The second bill, A6310/S5038, sought to codify the state’s 2018 Immigrant Trust Directive, which limits cooperation between state and local law enforcement agencies and federal immigration authorities.
Murphy said the bill differed from the existing directive in several respects, including changes related to detention notifications and restrictions on the use of public funds. He said those differences could expose the state to renewed legal challenges and potentially undermine protections that have already been upheld by federal courts.
The Immigrant Trust Directive remains in effect as an executive policy.
Advocates for the two bills Murphy killed criticized the governor’s actions and called on the new administration to pass legislation as soon as possible.
Make The Road New Jersey condemned Murphy’s pocket vetoes and said he failed immigrant communities.
“Governor Murphy had the power to protect New Jersey’s immigrant communities and he chose not to use it. This is a failure of leadership at a moment when we needed it most,” said Make the Road New Jersey Executive Director Nedia Morsy.
Morsy said the two bills were vetted by legal experts and noted that they passed both chambers with strong support from lawmakers.
“He can say he vetoed these bills because he doesn’t want to instigate the Trump administration, but ICE is already here kidnapping people in our communities. We cannot obey in advance out of fear of what Trump might do, we have to use every tool and every bit of leverage we have to protect our neighbors,” Morsy said.
“This is a betrayal to the thousands of immigrants, community leaders, and advocates who fought for the last year to keep us safe,” Morsy said. “We cannot wait for the perfect conditions or guarantees to pass these bills. We look forward to working with the incoming Sherrill administration to get these over the finish line and show that New Jersey is ready to stand up to the Trump administration.”
ACLU-NJ Executive Director Amol Sinha said the bills would have created much-needed protections for the 9.5 million New Jerseyans who call New Jersey home.
“In recent years, New Jersey has taken important strides in expanding and protecting immigrants’ rights, even in the face of escalating attacks by the federal government. The Safe Communities Act signed by Gov. Murphy today will continue that mission. However, we are deeply disappointed that Governor Murphy pocket vetoed the two more meaningful bills within the immigrant protection package,” Sinha said.
“In failing to sign these bills, Governor Murphy has left New Jersey without critical protections at a moment when ICE is brutalizing our communities,” Sinha continued. “These bills were legally sound, politically viable, and commonsense policy. 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. We have no time to waste.”
CAIR Action New Jersey also criticized Murphy’s decision, calling the outcome an incomplete approach to immigrant protections.
The group said Murphy’s pocket vetoes weakened what lawmakers intended to function as a comprehensive package designed to limit cooperation with federal immigration enforcement, restrict the sharing of sensitive personal data, and ensure immigrants can access schools, health care and local services without fear.
“Trust cannot be selective,” said Ali Aljarrah, a senior adviser to CAIR Action New Jersey. He said signing one bill while allowing the others to lapse left immigrant communities without what the group considers core safeguards.
Omayma Mansour, another senior adviser to the organization, said the decision sent a message that immigrant privacy protections were negotiable. She pointed to past cases involving data sharing and surveillance as evidence that partial reforms leave families vulnerable.
CAIR Action New Jersey cited the case of Leqaa Kordia, a Paterson resident, as an example of how information sharing between government agencies can have serious consequences for immigrant families. Advocates have pointed to her experience as a driving force behind legislative efforts to limit data collection and sharing related to immigration status.
The group said it plans to press the new administration to revive and pass the remaining measures.
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Krystal Knapp is the founder of The Jersey Vindicator and the hyperlocal news website Planet Princeton. Previously she was a reporter at The Trenton Times for a decade.