In an editorial, Jersey City resident Courtney Walker gives her point of view on why Hudson County must act now to repair damage from U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE).
Over the past year, Hudson County residents have experienced unprecedented levels of immigration enforcement.
ICE agents have appeared in county parks, boarded NJ Transit buses, and conducted operations in public spaces across our communities. ICE detention has already led to the death of a Hudson County resident.
Families across Hudson County are being torn apart.
Through all of this, ordinary community members have stepped up to respond.
After the raid at the 9th Street light rail station, Jersey City residents organized a rally to demand ICE out. High school and college students organized another rally in March with the same message.
Mutual aid networks formed in response and have grown to support affected families.
Based on data advocates have been able to piece together, an estimated 250 families in Hudson County were impacted over the course of 2025.
Volunteers have driven much of the response to this crisis. Regular but extraordinary people have come together to make care packages for families and to pool resources for rent and groceries.
But ICE activity has continued at an unsustainable rate in Hudson County throughout 2026. Our community needs an immediate infusion of resources to support the families ICE is tearing apart.
Local government has not kept pace with the extraordinary stress this crisis is placing on our systems and communities. Despite bans on ICE in local government spaces across multiple municipalities and the county, ICE activity has increased.
This increase is not only harming families, it’s also creating broader economic consequences. When residents are detained, local businesses lose workers, households lose income, and state and local governments lose tax revenue.
These losses ripple outward, increasing demand for public services while weakening the local economy.
This current environment is unsustainable.
New Jersey has programs intended to meet this need. The Detention and Deportation Defense Initiative (DDDI) provides legal representation to people facing deportation.
But, demand has overwhelmed these programs, often leaving families to find private legal counsel even when they qualify for assistance. This gap also exposes families to fraudulent or unqualified legal providers who exploit people in crisis.
When these programs are overwhelmed, the burden doesn’t disappear. It shifts to families and then the broader community.
Families must choose between paying legal fees and covering basic needs like rent and groceries, often after losing the income of their detained loved one. In response, community members step in.
Raising funds, organizing mutual aid, and helping neighbors stay afloat. But they are being asked to fill gaps that public systems should be equipped to handle.
Hudson County has the responsibility to act. At the state level, funding has not kept pace with growing needs. The proposed state budget fails to expand support for legal services or housing assistance, despite growing need across our communities.
As a result, that gap is already affecting families, volunteers, and overextended programs in Hudson County. That’s why local investment is necessary now.
Hudson County must commit $2 million to sustain these programs.
This investment is based on identified gaps in state legal defense funding, as well as anticipated increases in demand for rental assistance as more families require support.
New Jersey advocates are calling for $20 million for the Detention and Deportation Defense Initiative, which is currently funded at $8.2 million – a shortfall of $11.8 million.
Because Hudson County represents about 8% of New Jersey’s population, roughly $944,000 of that unmet need falls on our residents.
That’s nearly $1 million in legal services our community is going without, shifting the burden onto families and local systems to make up the difference.
The remaining portion of the funding request addresses legal services for children and rental assistance programs.
If we don’t account for increased housing needs at this moment, we risk leaving a community already in an affordability crisis without the support it needs. A crisis that’s being compounded by the impacts of immigration enforcement.
This funding wouldn’t create new programs. It would simply strengthen existing ones.
Like the county’s Family Services office, which already administers emergency rental assistance, as well as organizations like the American Friends Service Committee (AFSC) and the New Jersey Consortium for Immigrant Children (NJCIC), which already provide legal services and receive state funding for this work.
The $2 million investment represents less than 0.3% of the $700 million county budget. This small share would stabilize families, expand access to legal representation, and reduce strain on county services strengthening Hudson County from the ground up.
Hudson County has the resources to meet this moment. A $2 million investment may not solve every challenge we currently face, but it will help keep families housed, ensure access to legal representation, and ease pressure on our communities.
The question is not whether we can afford to act, it’s whether we’re willing to.
To help push through this budget, advocates need your help. Make your voice heard today in support of this proposed budget by contacting local representatives below.
This might be the will of the people, but our elected representatives hold the power to make it happen.
Demand action now by sending an email to the following people:
Hudson County Executive Craig Guy – cguy@hcnj.us
Commissioner O’Dea – reachbillodea@gmail.com
Commissioner Cedeño – fcedeno@hcnj.us
Commissioner Romano – aromano@hcnj.us
Commissioner Aponte-Lipski – yapontelipski@hcnj.us
Commissioner Baselice – rbaselice@hcnj.us
Commissioner Cifelli – acifelli@hcnj.us
Commissioner Kopacz – kkopacz@hcnj.us
Commissioner Rodriguez – caryrodriguez@hcnj.us
Courtney, any proof that illegal alien from Honduras (deported previously) died as a result of ICE detention? You realize people die in various circumstances. Cruise ships have morgues for that reason. You would not imply cruise operators intend to kill their customers?
ICE is tearing families apart? Who prevents illegal aliens from accepting $2600 per head and free ticket home? Luis Beltran Yanez–Cruz refused and took a chance to game the system. That was some 8 months of his wages back home (if he could get a job).
Courtney says: “Local government has not kept pace with the extraordinary stress this crisis is placing on our systems and communities.”
Agreed. How much of JC $ 1B+ school budget goes to finance illegal aliens? Why do we have to pay for freeloaders from faraway places?
Courtney, if business loses workers due to ICE doing their job, then it should go out of business and be prosecuted by IRS.
You say illegal aliens pay taxes? Where did you get this info? You realize, you need ss number to do that? Right? How much in workers comp taxes these businesses collect and forward to Trenton? You not telling me they pay under the table slave wages and somehow at the same time comply with all the tax laws we have?
Finally, you want us to pay for criminals who have no right to be here in the first place. Why? Mexico has 50 consulates in the US. They can help.
Mr Orville Etoria is so vile that his own country refused to take him back:
https://www.dhs.gov/news/2025/09/02/new-york-times-peddles-sob-story-criminal-illegal-alien-murderer
He was shipped to Africa instead.
Why not Courtney house such illegal aliens in her own living room and pay with her own money to shield from removal?
@BigFoot: Why dont you show up at the Hudson County Commissioner’s meeting on Thurs 5/14 @4:30PM 567 Pavonia Ave and voice your baseless opinion in person, instead of hiding behind a screen.