New Jersey Tries to Hobble ICE
June 19, 2026
FAIR shows state’s policy is unconstitutional
WASHINGTON—In New Jersey, an executive order by the Governor bars federal civil immigration officers from entering, accessing, or using nonpublic areas of state-owned property without a judicial warrant, even when removable aliens may be present there. The Federation for American Immigration Reform (FAIR) has filed a brief in the U.S. District Court for the District of New Jersey showing that this policy violates the Supremacy Clause of the Constitution.
In its brief, FAIR shows that the Constitution makes state laws and policies nullities if they stand in the way of federal officers pursuing a mission given to them by federal law. If federal immigration law enforcement officials are pursuing a removal alien, they may do so notwithstanding state policies purporting to deny them access to public property—such as a jail—in which the alien might be located. Were it otherwise, federal law would not be supreme over state law, as it is declared to be in the Supremacy Clause.
Also, FAIR points out, state officials who deny federal agents access to a building containing a removable alien because of this policy will be committing the federal crime of harboring that removable alien. The federal harboring law thus overrides or “preempts” the incompatible state policy.
https://www.fairus.org/press-releases/new-jersey-tries-hobble-ice
