In one of his final acts in office, Gov. Phil Murphy announced Tuesday that he signed one controversial bill to limit immigration enforcement in New Jersey while vetoing two other measures he said were likely to get challenged in court.
Murphy signed a bill that designates hospitals and schools as “safe zones,” blocking Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents from going inside without a judicial warrant.
The legislation requires the state attorney general to publish model policies for “sensitive locations.” The new law also says New Jersey will develop a separate model policy specifically tailored to keep ICE out of places of worship.
“Whether you’re praying in a church, studying in school, receiving medical care at a hospital, or seeking legal relief, no one should live in fear or uncertainty or be deterred from seeking essential services due to their immigration status,” Murphy said.
But the Democratic governor rejected the two other bills included in the package passed by lawmakers who want to limit cooperation with ICE.
Murphy, who leaves office at noon Tuesday, used a pocket veto to stop the proposed laws that would have limited information‑sharing with federal authorities. He also declined to make New Jersey’s Immigrant Trust Directive — a policy that limits when local and state law enforcement officers can cooperate with ICE — into a law.
The bills were a core demand of advocates who said the policies were needed to shield undocumented residents from renewed federal enforcement under the Trump administration.
Murphy argued that the bill making the directive a law had been altered so significantly during the legislative process that, in his view, it would invite renewed legal scrutiny.
“I am extremely concerned that signing this bill, which differs from the Immigrant Trust Directive, would open New Jersey up to a new court challenge and renewed judicial scrutiny from judges who may not render the same decision upholding these critical protections,” Murphy said.
He also worried the new laws could put immigrants in danger.
“Re-opening the door to judicial scrutiny of our State’s immigration policies, combined with the Trump Administration’s increasingly targeted actions against states and cities, is a recipe for disaster for our immigrant brothers and sisters and puts them in greater danger,” Murphy said.
Advocates for the bills criticized Murphy for waiting until the last minute to issue a pocket veto for the two proposed laws.
Advocacy organizations, along with the Latino Legislative Caucus, spent the weekend urging Murphy to sign the remaining bills before leaving office. Their effort failed as Gov.-elect Mikie Sherrill, a Democrat, was preparing to be sworn in Tuesday. That means the entire package must now be reintroduced and move through the Democratic-controlled state Legislature again.
Sherrill’s office did not immediately respond to a request to comment.
Supporters say the vetoes contradict Democrats’ public commitments to resist Trump-era immigration policies. They argued the bills that failed were drafted specifically to withstand legal challenges and that Murphy’s late-stage objections were more political than constitutional.
The ACLU supported Murphy’s signing of the bill to protect schools and churches from ICE, but disagreed with his pocket veto of the other bills.
“In failing to sign these bills, Gov. Murphy has left New Jersey without critical protections at a moment when ICE is brutalizing our communities. These bills were legally sound, politically viable, and commonsense policy,” the ACLU said in a statement.
Make the Road New Jersey, an immigrant rights group, also criticized Murphy for not signing the two bills to limit ICE cooperation.
“We cannot wait for the perfect conditions or guarantees to pass these bills. We’re already working with the incoming Sherrill administration about how to get these over the finish line and show that New Jersey is ready to stand up to the Trump administration,” said Nedia Morsy, director of Make the Road New Jersey.
