In an editorial, likely Hudson County commissioner candidate David Guirgis is claiming that Commissioner Yraida Aponte-Lipski’s (D-4) views on U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) protections are disqualifying.
Jersey City is my home. I moved to Journal Square in 2004 as a child, and I never left; its people are my people. So I refuse to accept it when ICE thugs and goons kidnap my people, send them to foreign gulags, and then lie and play in our faces about it.
And I refuse to accept it when my elected officials throw their hands up in response and say, “We can’t do anything more about this.”
My county commissioner, Yraida Aponte Lipski, did just that on Saturday.
As I and hundreds of my neighbors marched down Central Avenue that same day to demand the abolition of ICE and the full use of power to protect our community, Commissioner Lipski used column space in the Hudson County View to articulate all the things that the County can’t do — going so far as to suggest that basic protections that other counties in America are already pursuing are “ineffective” and “impractical.”
That is absolutely disqualifying.
I work in media relations, and three weeks ago — the week Alex Pretti was murdered by ICE agents — a friend of mine from Minneapolis begged and pleaded with me to reach out to any journalist I could find to uplift the story of his coworker, a single mother and survivor of domestic violence who showed up to her regular asylum appointment and was immediately detained.
Two weeks ago, I had to call my mother — a naturalized U.S. citizen and a woman of color, something that might get you stuffed in the back of a van in 2026 — to tell her to take a car home from New York because ICE was on her block.
Last week, ICE kidnapped 10 people while simultaneously bragging to a sitting Jersey City Council member about how they “don’t need warrants, bro.”
No one in power has the right to look at such violence and say they’re doing enough to stop it. I don’t care about “impractical” when American citizens are getting shot in the streets for protecting their neighbors. It is quite literally your job to figure it out.
I want to be clear. Being a county commissioner, or any other elected official, is not a no-show job. In exchange for the power we give you, you are required to show up. Be proactive. Talk to your constituents.
Hold a Know Your Rights training, or perhaps even one town hall, once. Ask the question, “What is the absolute most I can do with the power that I have?” and use that answer as the starting point for any legislation that you propose.
It is your job to see something that is evil, and instead of ceding power to the evildoers, say “A better world is possible. And I will use all my power to get us there, together.”
If the commissioner can’t see that this is what the job demands, then she shouldn’t seek it.
David Sabry Guirgis, LMSW is a social worker, organizer, and democratic socialist with lifelong roots in Jersey City. A seasoned political strategist, he has contributed senior leadership to winning races across New Jersey and the rest of the country, including the victories of James Solomon, Jake Ephros and Joel Brooks in Jersey City.
I understand were you are coming from. You don’t have the balls to engage in a direct face to face physical confrontation with law enforcement. You just want others to do it for you by using words. If the cause was worth fighting for,you would be risking your own neck, but you are not are you? You’re a great American, putting others in harms way whilst keeping yourself safe and secure, far far away from any sort of danger. You and your kind are what made this country great.
This is exactly the energy we need. Politicians at least as brave as the people stopping this fascist terror. Politicians actually willing to defend our rights.