Menendez Delivers Remarks Calling for Inclusion of Immigrant Families in COVID-19 Stimulus Package and Beyond

Menendez Delivers Remarks Calling for Inclusion of Immigrant Families in COVID-19 Stimulus Package and Beyond

 

‘This Administration and my Republican colleagues need to open their eyes and realize how we are treating immigrants in this country’

‘All families deserve to be treated with dignity. It’s the humane thing to do’

WASHINGTON, D.C. – U.S. Senator Bob Menendez (D-N.J.), the highest-ranking Latino in Congress, today delivered remarks on the Senate Floor on the need for Congress to ensure that immigrants – so many of whom have been on the frontlines as essential workers during the COVID-19 pandemic, and have been disproportionately impacted – are not left behind in the upcoming stimulus package being negotiated in the Senate.  As the son of Cuban immigrants and a first generation American, Sen. Menendez recognized the labor and countless contributions of immigrant families to America’s economy in the midst of the pandemic and beyond, and continued to warn against the dangers of the Trump Administration’s xenophobic, anti-immigrant agenda.

 

“The history of America is intertwined with immigrant stories. In every state of our Union, immigrants work in every industry and contribute in all facets of American life,” Sen. Menendez said in his Senate Floor remarks. “They work in our fields picking our fruits and vegetables, they are checkers at grocery stores, and construction workers building our bridges and homes.  They educate our children in our schools. They treat the sick in our hospitals as nurses, doctors and mental health professionals.  They wear our uniform and carry our flag in the U.S. Armed Services.”

“This Administration and my Republican colleagues need to open their eyes and realize how we are treating immigrants in this country,” Sen. Menendez continued. “We need them to do it now, in this moment, as we are pleading with our colleagues to do what is right—to give families a fighting chance to beat this virus and put the economy back on track. We can’t turn a blind eye to the fact that immigrant families will likely be excluded from help desperately needed during this pandemic in the next COVID-19 package.”

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“In the face of this tremendous public health crisis, we should not let the insidious, cruel and relentless scapegoating of immigrants prevent us from providing much-needed relief to the very same families and workers who are helping us survive,” Sen. Menendez added. “All families deserve to be treated with dignity. It’s the humane thing to do.”

 

In his impassioned speech, Sen. Menendez not only urged his colleagues to address the growing inequalities in the immigrant communities, but also urged them to put aside partisan politics and restart the long-overdue discussions to find path forward to achieving real immigration reform.

“We must come together, as we did before, to restart these long-overdue discussions and find a path forward to achieving real, immigration reform,”Sen. Menendez concluded. “I have always believed and still believe that reforming our immigration laws is the civil rights issue of our time. It is time to treat immigrants fairly and recognize their hard work and contributions to this nation.”

Below are the Senator’s full remarks as delivered:

Mr. President, I come to the Senate Floor today to speak about a topic very close to my heart.

As the son of Cuban immigrants and a first generation American, the struggles of immigrant families are not something I read about in books or watched on television.

I lived it.  I saw with my own eyes what it means to grow up in an immigrant family … in a low-income tenement in Union City, New Jersey.  My mother worked tirelessly as a seamstress and sacrificed everything to make sure that my siblings and I could have a better life and a brighter future.

Because that is the very essence of what we call “the American Dream.”  It’s about ensuring that the next generation has it better than we do.  That our children and grandchildren … and their children and grandchildren have greater opportunities than we do to realize their full potential.

And it doesn’t matter who you are, where you’re from, or where your ancestors came to when they came to this country.

We are a nation built by immigrants.  Every single member of this great and storied body is a descendant of someone who came to America seeking a better life for themselves and their loved ones.

The President is a second generation American.  His grandfather, Friedrich Trump, came here from Germany.  Our First Lady is herself an immigrant.

And yet, this Administration and President Trump have gone to painstaking lengths to deny, erase and ignore the contributions of immigrants to American life and culture,  innovation and ingenuity, economy and prosperity.  

They have worked overtime to deny the very fact that the immigrant story IS America’s story.

But as an old saying in Spanish goes: No hay peor ciego que el que no quiere ver which means there’s nothing worse than not wanting to see what’s right in front of you.

Donald Trump’s endless lies and attacks on immigrants started long before he descended down the escalator in Trump Tower to announce his run for the presidency.  They haven’t stopped since.

The President recently took another aggressive step in his war to erase immigrants from the portrait of America when he issued an unconstitutional edict to exclude our undocumented brothers and sisters from being counted in the 2020 census for the purpose of determining representation in Congress. 

His message was loud and clear to immigrant communities across the country:  You are not welcome here.  You don’t belong here.  You don’t count.

His goal is to instill fear in immigrant communities.  And that’s shameful and un-American.

Let’s be clear, the United States Constitution is explicit on this particular point.

Article 1, Section 2 clearly states, and I quote: “Representatives and direct Taxes shall be apportioned among the several States which may be included within this Union, according to their respective Numbers, which shall be determined by adding to the whole Number of free Persons…”

The Census requires an accurate count of ALL persons living in this country.  It does not distinguish between status or citizenship. It could have said, it requires a count of all citizens of the then-United States of the Union. It could have said, it is a count of all citizens and all legal permanent residents. It didn’t say that either. And it specifically recognizes that because as the union was developing, there would be people from different walks of life in the United States. And it purposefully understood that not all of them would necessarily be a citizen at the time of the counting but who was in America at any given time from the creation of the Constitution was important. All persons.

My friends, we have been sent here to serve ALL our constituents in our home states, no matter the color of their skin, their gender or their legal status.

The history of America is intertwined with immigrant stories.  In every state of our Union, immigrants work in every industry and contribute in all facets of American life…..the most important part of our lives.  

They work in our fields picking our fruits and vegetables, they are checkers at grocery stores, and construction workers building our bridges and homes.  They educate our children in our schools. They treat the sick in our hospitals as nurses, doctors and mental health professionals.  They wear our uniform and carry our flag in the U.S. Armed Services.

In fact, during this pandemic, hundreds of thousands of immigrants—including undocumented immigrants—have put their lives on the line to serve as essential frontline workers and to keep businesses open … despite the Administration actively seeking to deport them.

Like many American citizens, they are risking their lives every day –while being disproportionately affected by COVID-19– to provide others with the services they need and protect the health and safety of our fellow Americans. All the while, facing disproportionate infection and death rates from this horrible disease.  They are the invisible heroes of this pandemic. They’re the ones who make it possible for us to receive the essential goods and services so that we can stay home, which is what we’re told to do by the nation’s public health officials.

But the message from the President to these essential workers who perform back breaking work in our fields, care for our children or treat you at our hospitals is: You are not worthy.

I’d ask every single one of my colleagues, if God forbid, you were infected with COVID-19, would you really care about the citizenship status of the doctor or nurse treating you?  Would you ask for his or her “legal papers” before getting help?

Would any of you refuse to eat fruit or vegetables in your homes picked by the calloused hands of an undocumented immigrant sweating in our fields?

Would you rather not have a highway built in your state because the workers have a native language other than English?

Many of you would tell me that’s non-sense. But yet, Trump’s presidency has been marked by deafening silence in the face of his inflammatory, xenophobic, immoral campaign against immigrants.

Just take the example of TPS and DACA beneficiaries…

As my home State of New Jersey struggled in the early days of the pandemic – until recently, we had the second most cases of COVID-19 – TPS holders like Madelia Cartagena in Newark, and Dreamers like Daysi from Monmouth County rose to the challenge presented by this pandemic.

As more than 131,000 Temporary Protected Status holders across the nation and 7,500 in New Jersey alone, Madelia was considered an essential worker as the company she has worked for in the last 17 years had to respond to the increasing demand for sanitizer dispensers. 

For Daisy, the fact she was brought to the United States from Central America at just nine years old meant nothing to the patients whose lives she was helping save.  What mattered was that she showed up when she was needed.  And that she did so despite the lingering threat that DACA – Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals – could be abruptly terminated and with it, her ability to remain in this country. She showed up every day helping to save lives.

Put simply, TPS holders like Madelia and DACA beneficiaries like Daysi will help us heal and will also help our economy recover. They represent among the best of America.

To give you some context, Dreamers bring in a net $3.4 billion annually to the U.S. Treasury and generate $42 billion in Gross Domestic Product each year. Dreamers.

Yet, this Administration has fought tooth and nail to send Dreamers packing, despite the American flag being the only one they’ve ever pledged allegiance to. The National Anthem being the only national anthem they’ve every sung. 

Even after the Supreme Court’s recent ruling, the Supreme Court, the highest court in the land, that the termination of DACA was unlawful, the Administration has openly defied the Supreme Court’s order by not reopening the full DACA program.  

These Dreamers are battling the Coronavirus and the Trump Administration!

Polls show that even a majority of Trump voters want to protect Dreamers from deportation, and wide swaths of registered voters support Dreamers regardless of the voter’s gender, education, income, ethnicity, religion and ideology. 

That includes 68 percent of Republicans, 71 percent of conservatives and 64 percent of those who approve of the job the President is doing.

But instead of accepting the Supreme Court’s decision and acknowledging the enormous contributions of Dreamers, this Administration is planning new efforts to end DACA.  It’s no secret – they indicate as much in the latest Department of Homeland Security memo.  

And let’s be honest, if it’s not outright termination they seek, the Administration will treat the protection of Dreamers as a bargaining chip in order to undo our LEGAL immigration system.  They want to cut LEGAL family immigration in exchange for what they call “merit-based” immigration.  That’s pretty shameful and offensive because there are many that are here that would never be here under a merit-based system.

This Administration and my Republican colleagues need to open their eyes and realize how we are treating immigrants in this country. 

We need them to do it now, in this moment, as we are pleading with our colleagues to do what is right—to give families a fighting chance to beat the virus and put the economy back on track.

We can’t turn a blind eye to the fact that immigrant families will likely be excluded from help desperately needed during this pandemic in the next COVID-19 package.

So far, undocumented immigrants who pay their taxes and selflessly risk their lives as essential workers to save others have been deliberately excluded from the federal pandemic assistance Congress has provided.

Virtually all immigrants who use an Individual Taxpayer Identification Number, or as we call it ITIN, to file their federal taxes and their U.S. citizen spouses and children were left out from any economic impact payments in the CARES Act. 

In other words, we denied American citizens and their American-citizen children badly needed assistance as a punishment for being married to an undocumented immigrant or belonging to a mixed status family during this economic emergency.

I grew up believing that an American Citizen is an American Citizen is an American Citizen, regardless of who I marry; regardless of whether my children are the offspring of one parent who’s an American Citizen and another one who is not. 

Thousands of American citizens were denied $1,200 individual stimulus checks to which other American citizens were entitled to just because of who they love.  American citizen children were denied $500 in assistance to which other American citizen children were entitled.  It’s wrong. Are there two classes of American children in this country now? Are there two classes of American citizens now?

As we consider the next COVID-19 relief package, Congress has to fix this injustice. 

If you work hard, follow the rules, and pay your taxes – you deserve tax relief – regardless of how you filed.  At the very least if you are an American citizen living in a mixed-status family, an American child who is the offspring of a mixed-status family —you should not be denied the cash benefit you’re rightfully entitled to.  It’s just that simple. It’s justice. It’s what’s right.

In the face of this tremendous public health crisis, we should not let the insidious, cruel and relentless scapegoating of immigrants prevent us from providing much-needed relief to the very same families and workers who are helping us survive. 

All families deserve to be treated with dignity. It’s the humane thing to do.

But that’s not all…

As we expanded access to free COVID-19 testing, undocumented immigrants were left behind.  That makes no sense.  The coronavirus doesn’t check your status before infecting you. 

An undocumented immigrant living in America with COVID-19 is no less a threat to become a seriously ill individual or spread the virus than an American citizen who’s infected. The virus does not discriminate on race, or gender, ethnicity, borders, or legal status. As a public health proposition, you want everybody to be tested.

Given the pandemic’s disproportionate impact on low-income and communities of color, and the fact that they are serving in essential industries, I would argue they are more likely to be infected.

What good does it do any of us if someone—regardless of who or where they are—is walking around with an undiagnosed case of COVID-19 because they couldn’t afford a test?

That person can unwittingly infect their relatives, neighbors and coworkers. 

If we ever want to see our economy and lives return to some semblance of normal, there must be access to free COVID-19 testing, treatment and vaccines for EVERYONE living in the United States—regardless of immigration status. 

America has to do better to acknowledge the hard work, sacrifice, and contributions of immigrants. 

Sadly, these past four years have seen a rise in hate crimes and hateful rhetoric targeting immigrants.

Led by this President, immigrants are continuously scapegoated for every problem. 

One of my Senate colleagues even suggested recently that Hispanics were to blame for the rise in COVID cases across our own country—instead of the epic failure of the Administration to develop and implement a national pandemic response plan, or one that includes culturally competent outreach to minority-majority communities.

As elected officials and leaders in our communities, we have a moral responsibility to rise above the immigrant fearmongering and the President’s hateful rhetoric to reunite our country.

Not only must we include immigrant families in the upcoming relief package, but to truly address these injustices, we must reform our immigration laws – once and for all.

We must come together … as we did before here in the Senate, I was part of that Gang of 8 … to restart these long-overdue discussions and find a path forward to achieving real, immigration reform.

I have always believed and still believe that reforming our immigration laws is the civil rights issue of this community of it this time.

It is time to treat immigrants fairly and recognize their hard work and contributions to this nation. 

Immigrants like my mother, Evangelina, who came here with nothing but the conviction that everything in America was possible.  She refused to let not speaking English or her modest wages as a seamstress stop her from giving us the best life she could. 

And here I am, one of 100 U.S. Senators in a country of over 300 million people. 

I am the embodiment of that American dream, and my story is no less meaningful than that of any immigrant coming to this country or in this country to build a better future for their family and this nation. 

That is our past. That is our history. That is our present. And it will be our future.

It’s past time that due acknowledgment and respect are given, it’s now time for action. 

 

 

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OP-ED: WHY WE NEED $15 AN HOUR MINIMUM WAGE IN NEW JERSEY NOW, NOT LATER

This op-ed by Daniel Ulloa, Vice President of Communication for LAN, originally appeared in NJ Spotlight.com.

http://www.njspotlight.com/stories/18/08/06/op-ed-why-we-need-15-an-hour-minimum-wage-in-new-jersey-now-not-later/

As living costs continue to rise in this expensive state, people are working longer hours for less money just to get by.

We need a $15 an hour minimum wage. Too many people are struggling to make ends meet in New Jersey.

Between the costs of housing, child care, transportation, and healthcare more and more people are working longer hours for less money just to get by, much less thrive. And despite the state’s low unemployment, the fact that wages have remained stagnant makes poverty a pressing issue here.

New Jersey is one of the most expensive states in the country to live in. It was recently ranked among the top 10 most unequal state in the nation. Those who are wealthy can enjoy its benefits far more than struggling workers. And while some of those who are currently struggling can go on to achieve prosperity, they unfortunately are more often the exception to the rule. There is no reason thousands should be made to toil for slave wages simply because it’s possible to find a better job.

Raising the minimum wage is always a popular action. In 2013, when Gov. Chris Christie was re-elected, a ballot measure to increase the minimum wage slightly was approved as well, thus showing such a move has bipartisan support.

Some conservatives object because they feel it would be an onerous burden on companies to pay individuals so much money. But if their customers are also making more money, they’re likely to shop more.

$15 minimum would benefit 1.2M workers in NJ

Furthermore, higher wages mean employees won’t be as likely to leave blue-collar jobs — which in turn means businesses won’t have to spend as much time training new staff. In addition, a more satisfied staff is likely to lead to an increase in productivity.

For those who feel that blue-collar workers shouldn’t make the same money as white-collar workers, remember a rising tide lifts all boats.

According to New Jersey Policy Perspective, raising the minimum wage to $15 would raise wages for 1.2 million workers in the state and inject $4.5 billion into the state’s economy.

There has been some talk of watering down the minimum-wage bill to pay youth workers less than $15 an hour. Most are seen as teenagers from middle-classes families who take the jobs merely for spending money. But youth workers need that money. Contrary to the beliefs of some, they have no desire to be a burden but rather would like to contribute and ease their family expenses. This is especially true in the homes of Hispanic families where their paychecks often go in part to sustaining the family. Youth workers must not be treated as second-class citizens.

Discrimination against older workers

Such an exemption from a $15 minimum would also likely lead to massive discrimination against older workers by employers seeking to bypass the law.

There has also been talk of excluding farmworkers. Farmworkers who perform the most arduous duties also must receive a higher wage. Why should they be left out? Many work long hours for little pay in jobs that few would willingly do. Leaving out a class of workers made up overwhelmingly by people of color is an act of blatant racism.

How are we to call ourselves the Garden State if we do not fairly compensate those who make it so?

There has been a great delay now in anticipation of the bill while living expenses continue to increase due to natural inflation. Delaying an increase for too long would erode the effect of raising the minimum wage.

In 2016, a bill to put $15 on the ballot as a referendum passed both legislative chambers easily but was vetoed by Christie and, unfortunately, the political will wasn’t there to override his veto.

Gov. Phil Murphy ran on raising the minimum wage to $15 and made it one of the central planks of his campaign. However, we have been waiting half a year for the bill to be passed. Working men and women cannot afford to wait. They have been waiting long enough while they are exploited, and deals are made to benefit those who don’t need extra protection.

The Legislature must send a bill raising the minimum wage to $15 an hour to the governor now.

Time for Unity on Driver’s Licenses for Immigrants

Time for Unity on Driver’s Licenses for Immigrants

Since the election of our new Governor momentum has been building in the activist community for Driver’s Licenses for undocumented immigrants. Several groups, including the Latino Action Network, have launched campaigns or increased our efforts to get this legislation passed. I was fortunate to meet with several Driver’s License activists at our Annual Latino Action Network Legislative Conference in January and found that we all share a common goal: get Driver’s Licenses legislation passed as soon as posible. 

It is important to note that while we all share the same goal, our tactics differ from organization to organization. In general it is a good thing to have different groups approaching an issue from various directions. That is, unless some of those approaches become counterproductive to the end goal. 

Personal Attacks Against Our Allies

Some activists have taken to launching personal attacks against our allies in the legislature who have demonstrated their commitment to achieving driver’s licenses for immigrants. They have demonstrated this commitment by virtue of their sponsorship of the legislation itself. However, they are now being targeted and harassed by some activists who have launched large scale attacks against them on social media.  This approach is misguided and counterproductive. 

It is misguided because it shows either a lack of understanding of the legislative process or a deliberate attempt to derail this important legislation. It is counterproductive because too much time is being wasted debating whether the people who are championing this law in the legislature are actually in support if it. This time could be better spent talking to legislators who need to be persuaded to support the bill. 

Attacks Against Legislative Sponsors is Misguided

Those that are attacking the legislative sponsors of the Driver’s Licenses bills claim that the sponsors are obstructing the same bill because (a) multiple bills were introduced by different legislators and (b) this law is not getting “fast-tracked” like other bills have been and (c) they do not support the bill because they do not include mention of this particular bill in all of their public statements. 

Multiple Bills: It is not unusual for multiple bills addressing the same issue to be introduced in the legislature. In fact, in 2013 several bills were introduced that dealt with In-State Tuition and Financial Aid for DREAMers. Some bills only dealt with In-State Tuition, other bills only dealt with Financial Aid, and yet other bills included both components. For most of the time leading up to the passage of the legislation, most activists were only focusing on the In-State Tuition component. It was only toward the end that we all coalesced around the idea of pushing for the bills that included both In-State Tuition AND Financial Aid. Our thinking back in 2013 was that even if Governor Christie vetoed the Financial Aid piece, which he did, we would still get the In-State Tuition portion, which we did.  The added bonus was that we already had legislators on the record for having supported and voted in favor of Financial Aid for DREAMers and we could go back to those same legislators in the future when we had a Governor who would sign it into law. In that case, having multiple bills to chose from was helpful to our cause. 

Fast-Tracking:  For the reasons mentioned above, fast-tracking the Financial Aid bill was posible. When the Financial Aid bill was reintroduced in the current legislature, we already knew who the majority of supporters of the bill were by looking at the voting history of the bill back in 2013. We knew who had voted for the bill and those same legislators were very likely to vote for it again this time around. We were then able to focus our attention on those legislators who came to office after 2013 and therefore did not participate in the original vote. 

We also were able to expand our advocacy beyond Democrats and reached out to Republican legislators as well. This resulted in passage of the Financial Aid legislation with bi-partisan support. 

Driver’s Licenses is in a different situation because there has never been a previous vote on this legislation. We, as activists, still have a lot of work to do to garner the support of a majority of lawmakers in both houses of the state legislature.  

Public Statements in Support of Bill:  The best testament a legislature could show of their support of a bill is to become a sponsor of that bill. The legislators that are currently being attacked are the actual PRIME SPONSORS of the bill to provide Driver’s Licenses to Undocumented Immigrants.  Their name is on the top of the bill. They have taken ownership of this issue and will face the consequences (good and bad) of their decision to champion this bill in the legislature. When this legislation passes, and I firmly believe that it will, the Prime sponsors of this bill will reap the reward of praise from the immigrant community that will benefit from it and they will also reap the scorn of the anti-immigrant forces that will vilify them for doing anything that aids immigrant families. They have gone beyond issuing a simple statement in support of the bill, they have tied themselves to the bill and will be forever linked to its fate. 

Attacking Our Allies is Counterproductive 

In the current anti-immigrant climate being exacerbated by President Trump it is hard enough to win over support for this bill from legislators that do not represent large immigrant populations. Our job becomes even more difficult when the champions of this legislation are being attacked by community activists.  Our allies in the legislature are doing their part by (a) putting their names on this legislation as Prime Sponsors (b) being public advocates of this legislation (c) fighting for this legislation within their legislative caucus (c) opening line of communication for activists with key decision makers within state government so that important questions about implementation can be addressed. 

The work that these champions are doing from the inside does not absolve us, the community activists and advocates, from doing our jobs. We still have to do the hard work of reaching out to legislators throughout the state to get them to commit to supporting and voting in favor of this bill. We must reach out to Democrats and Republicans as we cannot afford to leave any stone unturned since this vote might be close and even one Republican vote, like we got with S-699, could help put this bill over the top.  

These unwarranted attacks on the legislative champions of this bill also works to diminish their reputations in the communities they serve and on the floor of the legislature. The attacks give the impression that these legislators do not enjoy the support of their constituents. Nothing can be further from the truth. We would not have accomplished the passage of In-State Tuition and Financial Aid for Undocumented Students without the leadership of the members of the Hispanic Legislative Caucus, especially our three Latina State Senators: Teressa Ruiz, Nellie Pou and Nilsa Cruz-Perez. 

I am confident that with their continued leadership and a lot of hard work on our part we will be victorious in passing legislation that will provide Driver’s Licenses to undocumented immigrants. 

Now is not the time to turn on each other. Now is the time to unite and fight side by side for what we all believe to be the right thing. 

We must put our egos aside and follow our moral compasses that tell us to do what is right for our community. That same moral compass tells us that we should do this work in the spirit of love for the people we serve and for the people we struggle side by side with. So, it is in this spirit that I implore all community activists and legislators to work together because only in unity will we truly be victorious. 

¡Pa’lante!

Christian Estevez, President

Latino Action Network

President Trump is threatening to take federal money from towns -- including many in New Jersey -- that refuse to join his extremely costly mass deportation system. 

http://www.nj.com/opinion/index.ssf/2017/03/nj_towns_shouldnt_be_forced_to_help_fund_trumps_ma.html

If Trump defunds 'sanctuary cities,' N.J. will pay more for mass deportations | Opinion

Star-Ledger Guest Columnist

Posted on March 27, 2017 at 6:10 PM

Attorney General Jeff Sessions announced Monday that the Trump administration will "claw back" funding to so-called "sanctuary cities" if they refuse to inform Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials after placing an unauthorized immigrant in custody. (Photo by Shawn Thew | EPA)

By Rudy A. Rodas 

President Trump is threatening to take federal money from towns -- including many in New Jersey -- that refuse to join his extremely costly mass deportation system. 

Let's be clear. The issue of "sanctuary cities" is not a problem because towns want to protect noncriminal immigrants.  The problem is that Trump is forcing towns to spend their money and resources on his deportation force. 

Taking federal funds away from municipalities that do not comply could put the jobs of local police officers and teachers at risk. This is a bad policy by the federal government -- a problem that needs an immediate bipartisan response from New Jersey elected officials.

Democratic State Sen. Brian Stack has proposed legislation to help municipalities pay their bills if Trump withholds federal funds. A separate state fund would replace these losses. Unfortunately, Republicans across the board have refused to support this legislation.

Gov. Chris Christie threatened to veto the bill. Gubernatorial candidate and Assemblyman Jack Ciattarelli stated that he believes in compassionate immigration reform, but he also stated he is against this legislation. He claims towns that adopt policies like sanctuary cities place public safety at risk and cost New Jersey taxpayers billions.

Ciattarelli's reasoning does not make sense. Towns do not want to help Trump because it is a waste of their money and resources to focus on people who are not a threat to public safety. They want to spend money on education, community activities, road improvements, and local public safety initiatives. They also want to maintain the trust between police and the undocumented communities that help keep their neighborhoods safe.  

This fiscal year, municipalities in the state are expected to receive $15.7 billion in federal funds. Trump is threatening towns to either spend time and money on helping him deport people or lose these federal funds. Either way, these towns will not be able to use this money to make positive improvements in their community.

It actually is more expensive for taxpayers if towns agree to become a part of Trump's mass deportation system. 

There are 500,000 unauthorized immigrants in New Jersey. Many have been in New Jersey longer in their countries of birth. Many are married to U.S. citizens and have U.S. citizen children. They haven't applied for legal status for risk of being separated from their family. Despite their challenges, they work hard at their jobs, start businesses, coach their kids' sports teams, volunteer at their churches, and pay their taxes. (According to the Institute on Economic Policy and Taxation, New Jersey's undocumented immigrants contribute nearly $600 million in state and local taxes).

It is state taxpayers and the economy that will face the financial consequences of the federal government's plan to uproot thousands of families. U.S. citizen children left behind will become wards of the state. They will require additional government, social, and educational resources. 

Multiple sectors of the economy will suffer from the labor shortage.  A study by the Center for American Progress showed that if all unauthorized immigrants from New Jersey were deported, the state economy would lose almost $26 billion in annual gross domestic product.

In its entirety, Trump's mass deportation program of raiding, arresting, and jailing will destabilize our state economy and cost New Jersey taxpayers more money than we have to spend.

New Jersey lawmakers should draw lessons from their recent bipartisan efforts to treat wide-spread opioid addiction in the state.  

Christie chose to spend state funds on rehabilitating nonviolent offenders because it costs more to incarcerate them. He also recognized the emotional hardships families suffered and wanted to focus on keeping families together.

Along the same lines, it will cost less taxpayer money for the state government to support towns that want to spend funds on improving their communities instead of causing hardships to thousands of families.  

Last November, the majority of New Jersey voters did not vote for Donald Trump. We proved our belief in compassion, equality, and strong family values.

Now, the Trump administration challenges our values. Trump believes in wielding a heavy hand. He wants to arrest and jail his way out of problems no matter the cost to taxpayers. 

This is bad policy for New Jerseyans, it's a bad idea for the nation.

Rudy A. Rodas is chairman of the Immigration Committee at the Latino Action Network, a New Jersey coalition of Latino organizations dedicated to political empowerment, the promotion of civil rights, and the elimination of disparities in the areas of education, health, and employment. 

Sessions announces actions against sanctuary cities

 

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Kim Guadagno misses the point on sanctuary cities | Opinion

In a recent meeting with The Record’s editorial board, Lieutenant Gov. Kim Guadagno called the movement to get cities and towns to designate themselves as sanctuaries for immigrants a “political stunt,” saying that the declarations would not prevent customs officials from enforcing immigration laws and detaining undocumented immigrants. Guadagno misses the point of these designations and exposes her lack of understanding of New Jersey communities with large immigrant populations.

http://www.northjersey.com/story/opinion/contributors/2017/03/23/kim-guadagno-misses-point-sanctuary-cities/99528570/

Kim Guadagno misses the point on sanctuary cities

Christian EstevezUpdated 7:20 a.m. ET March 24, 2017

In a recent meeting with The Record’s editorial board, Lieutenant Gov. Kim Guadagno called the movement to get cities and towns to designate themselves as sanctuaries for immigrants a “political stunt,” saying that the declarations would not prevent customs officials from enforcing immigration laws and detaining undocumented immigrants. Guadagno misses the point of these designations and exposes her lack of understanding of New Jersey communities with large immigrant populations.

Cities are designating themselves as “fair and welcoming” out of a sincere desire to improve public safety for all residents by creating trust between immigrants and local law endorsement. President Donald Trump is trying to bully towns into doing the work of federal border patrol agents by threatening to withhold federal funds if they do not. The threat of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) raids alone has created a chilling effect in many communities throughout New Jersey and the nation as a whole. This fear is compounded by the idea that local police are actively helping ICE round up immigrants for deportation.

When trust between local law enforcement and immigrant communities breaks down, everyone in those communities suffers because immigrants become more reluctant to report crimes or act as witnesses to crimes out of fear of being deported if they come in contact with police. This makes it harder for the police to solve crimes and protect the community as a whole.

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Throughout New Jersey, immigrants and their allies are asking municipalities to designate themselves as “Fair and Welcoming Communities” meaning that they will take a series of common-sense steps to enhance public safety and community policing efforts, decline voluntary assistance in federal deportation efforts, protect privacy and promote nondiscrimination at the local level.  These steps include establishing policies declaring that civil immigration enforcement is a federal responsibility and local officials will not voluntarily participate in or assist in federal immigration enforcement efforts.

These policies should also include strong privacy protections to ensure that municipal agencies and agents do not inquire about, maintain records about, or share confidential personal information, except where otherwise required by state or federal law, regulation, a directive or court order.  These policies should seek to strengthen protections against biased-based profiling and seek to strengthen non-discrimination protections in the provision of municipal services and the equal application of the law.  In addition, these policies seek to bolster community policing efforts by establishing procedures for U visa certifications, which protect immigrant victims of crime and encourage greater community cooperation with law enforcement efforts.

Guadagno’s statements are even more disturbing given that her office oversees the New Jersey Center for Hispanic Research and Development. After seven years overseeing the CHRD, the lieutenant governor has learned nothing about the Latino community or the needs of the many immigrant and mixed status families that make up the Latino community.

At a time when she should be condemning Trump’s attempts to use local police to bulk up his deportation forces, she is instead trying to dissuade immigrant communities from seeking service and protection from those who are sworn to provide it.

Nothing has changed for Guadagno, who as the sheriff in Monmouth County prior to being elected as lieutenant governor, instituted what is known as the 287(g) program, which allows states and local governments to partner with ICE by delegating authority to the local level.  Instead of standing up against Trump's destructive policies, she is aiding the president in his attempt to tear immigrant families apart.  By telling immigrants to stand down for fear of retribution from Trump, Guadagno shows a total lack of courage or leadership.

Christian Estevez is the president of the Latino Action Network, a broad, statewide coalition of individuals and organizations dedicated to Latino political empowerment, the promotion of civil rights and the elimination of disparities in the areas of education, health, and employment. It was founded in 2009.

Originally Published 9:58 a.m. ET March 23, 2017

Updated 7:20 a.m. ET March 24, 2017