KEY SERVICES PRESERVED, MORE ACTION NECESSARY TO FULLY PROTECT IMMIGRANT COMMUNITIES

Advocacy coalition calls the Legislature into emergency session to pass Immigrant Trust Act

TRENTON, NJ [6/30/2025] - The final Fiscal Year 2026 (FY26) State Budget includes important stability for immigrant communities in New Jersey, a population that makes up nearly one in four people in the state. NJAIJ is encouraged by the partial restoration of funding for legal services for unaccompanied children, and we are relieved there were no cuts to detention and deportation defense and language access. These investments represent a commitment to the Governor's original proposals in January. At the same time, New Jersey and the nation are in a vastly different place politically than where we were when the Governor made his initial address earlier this year. 

The demand for immigrant legal services is steep and growing more acute with each passing day. Loved ones are being arrested at their immigration check ins and appointments, workers are being targeted at worksites, and families are fleeing to the shadows in fear that standing up for their rights will put them in harm's way. And the state’s inaugural Language Access Law, required to go into effect earlier this year, was found in a recent coalition report to be only partially implemented across required agencies. Even while the legislature was negotiating the FY26 budget, the U.S. Senate was in the process of passing a federal budget that includes over $1 trillion in cuts to vital programs like Medicaid and CHIP, and an estimated $175 billion to $350 billion for immigration and border enforcement. Some of the proposals that are being voted on now include $45 billion for detention centers alone, quadrupling the footprint of facilities now.

“New Jersey communities are on the precipice of crisis as our Congress foolishly decides to fund cages over care. The dollars proposed in the FY26 State Budget can only reach their full potential if they are supported by the right policies and legislation. For that reason, we urge the legislature to go into emergency session this summer to pass the Immigrant Trust Act (S3672/A49887),” said Amy Torres, Executive Director of New Jersey Alliance for Immigrant Justice. “We need our legislature to act, not just comment, on the legal challenges to birthright citizenship and the imminent passage of the federal budget. New Jersey’s attorneys and community-based providers are already overwhelmed with demand. New Jersey needed the Immigrant Trust Directive codified in 2018. Now is the time to act and pass the full protections of the Immigrant Trust Act before it is too late to keep families out of harm’s way.”

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New Jersey Alliance for Immigrant Justice (NJAIJ) is the state’s largest immigration coalition. NJAIJ uses the power and strength of 60+ member organizations to fight for policies that empower and protect immigrants.