May 21, 2021
Dear immigrant justice supporter,
Thank you for supporting immigrant justice in your community! We are organizers with the North Jersey Democratic Socialists of America, and we wanted to share with you what’s happening with immigrant justice in the area.
All across the country, states and counties are rethinking their relationship with ICE. But nothing will change unless we put grassroots pressure on our elected officials to stop the brutal system of immigrant detention that rips families apart every day.
The Senate in New Jersey advanced S3361, the bill that’d ban future ICE contracts and renewals, which is a step in the right direction. But we still have lots of work to do to see that it gets passed while also ending our existing ICE contracts.
Meanwhile, the New York State Legislature has introduced the Dignity not Detention Act. This bill would close existing ICE detention centers in New York and prevent ICE from opening any new jails in the state. Passage of this bill would be an enormous victory for the immigrant justice movement nationwide.You can read a statement on the Dignity not Detention Act and, if applicable, sign your organization up as a supporter here.
Outside of ICE detention legislation, New Jersey Governor Phil Murphy has created a $40 million fund to get payments to immigrant workers who were excluded from the federal stimulus and state unemployment benefits. This fund would never have been created without the pressure from heroic hunger strikers and the support of over a dozen labor unions.
Although $40 million may seem like a lot of money, it covers only a very small amount of the missing wages immigrant workers in New Jersey are owed. Immigrants who worked throughout the pandemic deserve much more than the bread crumbs Governor Murphy is offering them. New Jersey is set to receive $6 billion from the federal stimulus. Can you give Governor Murphy a call at 609-292-6000 or send his office a fax online and tell him to commit more money to excluded immigrant workers?
In solidarity,
North New Jersey Democratic Socialists of America – Immigrant Justice Working Group