State-Federal Immigration Conflicts

New Jersey Democrats have introduced the "Fight Unlawful Conduct and Keep Individuals and Communities Empowered (F---ICE) Act," led by sponsors including Ravi Bhalla and Katie Brennan and coined by Sen. Raj Mukherji, to let residents sue over immigration enforcement after an ICE-style detention on the Hudson-Bergen Light Rail and an encounter in which an agent told councilman Jake Ephros "I don’t need a warrant, bro"; Republicans have denounced the measure as radical and Bhalla is advancing additional bills to curb state cooperation with federal immigration authorities. DHS Deputy Assistant Secretary Lauren Bis called the bill "disgusting," cited what she described as a 1,300% rise in assaults on ICE officers (including 3,200% more vehicular attacks and an 8,000% increase in death threats), warned federal agents are immune from state law and that obstructing or assaulting them is a federal felony, linked sanctuary policies to a prior fatal drunk‑driving case, and faced opposition from newly inaugurated Gov. Mikie Sherrill—who sent a letter opposing DHS’s purchase of a warehouse near Lake Hopatcong for use as a detention facility and was booed at a New Jersey Devils game.