Hudson County Executive Craig Guy and the board of commissioners took further steps to respond to actions by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) that were discussed at yesterday’s caucus meeting.
By John Heinis/Hudson County View
“With recent events in Hudson County, we have seen federal immigration authorities sow fear and create discord in our community with their aggressive enforcement tactics. Hudson County’s strength comes from our diversity, and we in county government must come together to make sure these ideals are protected,” Guy said in a statement Tuesday.
“This executive order will create enhanced lines of communication throughout Hudson County government, align strategies across offices, and develop policy recommendations that will ensure Hudson County is a safe, welcoming community for all.”
The Safe Communities Committee will develop policies and protocols regarding federal immigration practices, ensuring that all county offices operate with a unified approach to community outreach and information sharing.
The committee will include Hudson County electeds; as well as employees from the County Executive’s Office, as well as county Health and Human Services and Family Services and Reintegration Departments, attorneys from the county’s Law Department; county administrative officials, and representatives from both the Hudson County Schools of Technology, and the Hudson County Sheriff’s Office.
This follows an executive order last month that bans ICE and U.S. Customs and Border Patrol (CBP) operations on county property, which had an accompanying resolution approved by the commissioners, as HCV first reported.
The related resolution is sponsored by Commissioner Bill O’Dea (D-2), the board vice chair, noting that he, along with Commissioners Yraida Aponte-Lipski (D-4), Fanny Cedeño (D-7), and Al Cifelli (D-9) will serve on it.
O’Dea also submitted names for consideration from Knitty Gritty JC, the Latino Action Network, Action 21, Spirit of Liberation, Estamos Unidos, Centro Comunitario US, and the NJ Consortium for Immigrant Children.
“The community’s trust in county government is built through collaboration, oversight, and accountability, not symbolism. That’s why local community organizations are at the table; we need to know what they’re seeing and experiencing. We will work in concert with the Executive s internal committee,” he said in a statement.
The committee is designed to ensure clear and consistent communication between residents and county government, and prevent vulnerable residents from being deterred from accessing essential county services,” O’Dea added.
The veteran commissioner was a vocal opponent in both 2017 and 2020 when the county renewed contracts with ICE to detain individuals at the Hudson County Correctional Facility and played a key role in getting the county to end the agreement in 2022.
It’s beyond tiring all the investment in our tax money to protect illegal alien criminals.
Everything is about protecting these people’s future as Democrat voters.
We need to uncover the fraud flowing to illegal aliens in NJ. We know it’s there and it’s going to exceed a billion dollars, beyond the many billions shoved on to NJ taxpayers in housing, schools and health care.
If only we had a US Attorney in NJ that could that work but the Democrat US Senators Booker and Kim are dead set on preventing that from every happening.
Utterly corrupt!
Disgusting
The ICE situation is awful though the recent news out of Minneapolis is encouraging — get the agents out – today. Kristi Noem can go tomorrow. The behavior in the White House is also deplorable — and the public needs to keep responding as it has — unrelenting outcry. Now, all that said, we cannot overlook the sins of electeds in several notable cases around the state and country. Schools in Hackensack and Montclair have overspent by more than $35m combined. The Jersey City budget is roughly $250m in the hole and the Minnesota fraud case, while certainly not as horrific as the shooting incidents, deserves more attention from the media, as it provides a window into what happens when inept public officials run amok. Independent stories, when woven together, suggest that we have continued to spend pandemic money — long after the pandemic ended, as the bail outs were some sort of annuity. Also pretty disgusting…..
While it is commendable to take action against the sins of Washington — local governments, at the same time. need put their own affairs in order first; that is what they get paid to do…..