As Hudson County introduced an over $769 million budget for this year, residents have asked the board of commissioners to allocate $2 million to assist families impacted by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE).
By Dan Israel/Hudson County View
At yesterday’s meeting, the 2026 county budget was officially introduced with no changes since the presentation by Hudson County Executive Craig Guy at Tuesday’s caucus meeting.
During public comment, Mark Bloomberg took issue with the county spending $75,000 for copier and printer maintenance supplies through a contract with Xerox and an $80,000 contract for flags, flagpoles, and accessories, with ConServe Flag Co. and America Global Supply, Inc which was also on that meeting’s agenda.
“Part of the reason I’m calling this out is County [Executive] Guy, in announcing the budget with the 10 percent increase, stated, quote, ‘I will make sure my staff and I scrutinize every purchase, every hire, every project to make sure we are prioritizing Hudson County taxpayers,'” Bloomberg, a West New York resident, said.
“So I’m just raising concerns here about are we really watching our items here closely.”
Bloomberg said the $2 million ask is specifically for legal and rental assistance for “people who are falling through the cracks essentially,” adding that the funding would have “ripples through the entire system” as family breadwinners are taken by ICE.
“If individual stories of people detained and impacted by ICE aren’t enough to move the county to take action and provide more funding, then consider that when families lose their income, it has downstream impacts on businesses, municipalities, and the county, resulting in less revenue generated and less taxes collected,” he added.
“Contributing money now to support people impacted by ICE detention will save taxpayers in the long run.”
Jersey City resident Courtney Walker said the $2 million figure was formulated through the two committees set up by the county relating to ICE, including the Safe Communities Committee and the Immigrant Community Safety Committee.
“It’s come to light that we need an infusion of money to support existing services that already exist that people are using but are just too stretched thin with the current system,” she stated.
According to Walker, right now, ordinary citizens are filling in those gaps in the system, which she and other advocates are now asking the county to shoulder instead.
” … While the county banned ICE from county property, it just hasn’t been enough. So that’s why the $2 million is necessary.”
The funds would address existing programs including the Detention and Deportation Defense Initiative (DDDI), Kids in Need of Defense (KIND), and emergency rental assistance programs already administered by the county.
Walker emphasized the resources are much-needed as only 20 percent of those eligible in 2025 received legal representation through DDDI, for low-income adults or those facing deportation.
She said that because the state is keeping the statewide program flat, there’s a $12 million statewide gap in DDDI funding which translates to $1 million in Hudson County.
“Some of my classmates are immigrants, and it is scary to think about one of my friends losing a parent or sibling,” said Finn, a young Jersey City public schools student who didn’t give his last name.
“I’m here to ask you to step up and help these people who’ve been affected by things our own government is doing. We should give them money for anything they need, including food, rent, legal help, and other everyday essentials.”
Commissioner Bill O’Dea (D-2) said that the calls by advocates for $2 million for immigrant safety, food, shelter, and legal representation were all reasonable requests.
“I think we have to allocate additional dollars for rental assistance, not only for undocumenteds, but even for documenteds. We’re under a tough situation in this county, and I don’t think we can deny anyone who needs that,” he expressed.
O’Dea agreed that ICE detainees should have access to legal representation, proposed increasing funding to food security programs, and raised concerns about ICE impacts on youth.
He also praised the county for coming along way since he was the sole opposition to the ICE contract with the county jail in 2017 until it was later cancelled in 2021.
“But I think we have more to go, because from those years prior to 2017 through when the contract ended, the county profited from those contracts. Those dollars generated from those contracts helped keep taxes down … We made money from that. So now is a chance to give some of that money back,” O’Dea declared.
Board Chair Anthony Romano (D-5) defended what the county and Guy have already done and continue to do.
“I know in a proactive way, we’re working to extend the We Are One contract that’s coming up for expiration in the fall, and already $350,000 has been spent by the county for immigrant families’ pro bono services,” he said.
Guy’s chief of staff, Jenny Davis, said she was offended by some of the previous comments, noting the budget reflects the community’s values as stated previously by Guy.
Those include compassion for those who are most vulnerable, resources for those who need them, and services that benefit the community.
Davis also said the budget already includes funding for rental assistance, food security, legal assistance through non-profits Northeast New Jersey Legal Services and We Are One, and for projects built with union labor.
According to Davis, Hudson County was the first in the state to take action by banning ICE, also pointing to the related committees the county formed she believes are the only ones in New Jersey.
“Thank you all for your advocacy and bringing issues to light and helping to work with us,” Davis said.
“But I’m asking you to continue to work with us … Others did this after us. We were first. As I always like to say, Hudson leads, the state follows. And to date, every referral …every single one has been successfully addressed that has come from that committee.”
She stated that for those impacted by ICE, “nothing will ever be enough,” but the administration is working to help vulnerable communities, having prevented families from going hungry and homeless.
“To insinuate that our budget is immoral, is just not fair to those doing the work,” Davis said.
“While I appreciate the sentiments that we are not doing enough, that we need to do more, I respectfully ask everybody here to look at the steps Hudson County has taken, is taking, and will take to ensuring the welfare of immigrants and those most vulnerable among us. And I don’t want anyone to question that here.”
Afterwards, O’Dea asked Family Services and Reintegration Director Frank Mazza if there was enough money in the budget to cover rental assistance programs until the end of the year, to which Mazza said it depends on what the state provides in 2026.
However, last year he said there were situations where they didn’t have enough funds and people had to wait until the new year to receive assistance, which O’Dea suggested could make the situation worse.
“Everything you just said is more concern for me to worry about whether there’s enough money for rental assistance by September, October, November of this year and all the more reason to look and try to identify within this budget, either moving dollars or finding new dollars to put in,” O’Dea said.
After Davis’ remarks advocates returned to the podium to express they are working with the county in good faith.
“We’re just saying you need to prepare those services for more and the state needs to fund their services more,” Walker said.
O’Dea agreed: “I think sometimes, we in government just get too defensive. We shouldn’t look at everything as an attack. We should look at it as a conversation, and from those conversations, great things can often happens.”
