Governor’s race 2025 on the issues: Immigration

By New Jersey State House News Service

President Donald Trump’s second term began in January with a promised crackdown on undocumented foreign residents, leading to coast-to-coast Immigration and Customs Enforcement detainments and deportations.

Some candidates in June’s gubernatorial primary are taking strong stances on immigration in New Jersey, which, according to Pew Research Center, has an estimated 475,000 foreign-born people who could face enforcement action. Since October 2020, federal agents based in Newark have arrested 32,251 people suspected of evading the immigration system, according to ICE data. About 10% of those arrests have occurred during Trump’s second term.

DEMOCRATS

The Democratic candidates oppose Trump’s emphasis on deporting people swiftly. Federal judges have warned that the tactic may imperil constitutional due process, which guarantees fair legal treatment for noncitizens and citizens alike.

In Jersey City, with one of the highest foreign-born populations in the United States, Mayor Steven Fulop says he has the most immigration-related experience of all the candidates for governor. In the past several years, he says, his administration helped settle refugees from war-torn Ukraine and Afghanistan and, during the pandemic, guided undocumented people who needed services. Fulop also established an immigration office that he said is the only one of its kind in the country: It’s free, located within City Hall, and accredited by the U.S. Department of Justice.

Statewide, he says, efforts to help immigrants need more funding.

“You’ve seen a lot of nonprofits that service the legal immigrant community here in New Jersey, connecting them to crucial services as they’ve become citizens, and their funding has dried up because of the conversation now,” Fulop said. “Trenton needs to send a message that we will support those non-profits because they are supporting crucial parts of our community, and they no longer have the ability to do that.”

As governor, he said, he would reappoint Attorney General Matt Platkin “because he has been at the forefront of litigation” against Trump’s policies. “Continuity for the state is really important.” He said he would sign the Immigrant Trust Act, which would allow foreign nationals to seek assistance from state and local agencies without risk of deportation.

U.S. Rep. Mikie Sherrill and former state Senate President Steve Sweeney support border control and streamlined citizenship.

“People are really scared, and that’s why, as governor, I would stand against any infringements on the constitution,” Sherrill said. “So, really, strong border protections – at the same time making sure we fix the immigration system. Honestly, that is not what the president is doing. He is not even close.”

Sweeney says the nation shouldn’t harbor non-law-abiders.

“If people come to this country and they have criminal backgrounds, they need to leave,” Sweeney said. “If you break the law in this country, you need to leave.”

Others, he says, deserve a chance.

“We need our federal government to find a pathway to citizenship,” Sweeney said. “It’s not fair for someone who’s been working here for 10 years, paying income tax, being a good part of the community. They have to live in fear right now of someone coming and getting them.”

Sweeney is the sole Democratic candidate who has spoken against the Immigrant Trust Act. He says it’s too similar to the Immigrant Trust Directive, which he calls ineffective. The directive, issued in 2018 by then-New Jersey Attorney General Gurbir Grewal, limits the voluntary assistance that New Jersey law enforcement may offer federal immigration authorities. That includes officers’ participation in federal raids.

Despite the directive, he said, “ICE is coming and taking people.”

New Jersey Education Association President Sean Spiller, who emigrated from Jamaica with his parents when he was young, says he would look out for foreign-born people who have obtained U.S. citizenship.

“When folks are getting rounded up, it includes U.S. citizens who are then deported or jailed, and it includes folks who are serving in our military,” Spiller said. “It includes so many folks who we know should be protected, and as governor, you’re standing up for everyone.“

Newark Mayor Ras Baraka was arrested on May 9, 2025, at a protest in Newark outside Delaney Hall, a privately run 1,000-bed immigration detention center that opened in February. City officials say it lacks the necessary municipal permits to operate.

Baraka says he would sign the Immigrant Trust Act.

“We should have a cadre of lawyers, through nonprofits that we support, that can defend people if they’re grabbed illegally, if people are being challenged,” he said. He especially wants protection for college students who are here on visas, and professors and others who have Green Cards, which allow people to live and work in the U.S. legally.

U.S. Rep. Josh Gottheimer didn’t respond to several requests for comment. In January, he broke with fellow New Jersey House Democrats and voted with Republicans to permit the detention and deportation of undocumented immigrants who are charged with low-level crimes.

REPUBLICANS

The Republican candidates support strengthening the border and deporting immigrants who have criminal backgrounds. They also want to abolish sanctuary state policies, which limit cooperation with federal agencies and, in New Jersey, prohibit law enforcement from arresting residents based on their immigration status.

State Sen. Jon Bramnick says he supports deporting lawbreakers.

“The concept was to deport the criminals, deport the bad guys,” Bramnick said of Trump’s initiatives. But those who follow the law, Bramnick said, are a different matter. “I would like to see a path of citizenship for people who have been here for a long period, who pay taxes.”

Former radio talk show host Bill Spadea says he wants to eliminate sanctuary state policies. If undocumented residents are forced to leave, he says, citizens would fill the labor gaps, leading to entrepreneurship and broader economic growth.

“Not every kid wants to go to college, nor should go to college,” Spadea said. “There are many kids that would make a great living getting into culinary arts, getting into landscaping, where they could be incentivized in three or four years to start their own business by creating an opportunity in the job market.”.

He wants to lower the $15.49 minimum wage in those industries to encourage business owners to hire more citizens.

“The challenge in the labor market at jobs like that is they elevated the minimum wage too high,” Spadea said. “So for the companies that are going to pay under the table and pay cash, it’s a lot easier to pay somebody who’s here illegally.”

Former Englewood Mayor Mario Kranjac, the son of Ukrainian immigrants, supports stricter border policies. He wants to end sanctuary state policies and encourage legal immigration. As governor, he says, he would comply with Trump-era federal law and directives.

“I want people to come here lawfully and to contribute and to certainly live the American dream,” Kranjac said. “But what they’re creating is not the American dream. They’re creating the American nightmare.”

Jack Ciattarelli, a former state assemblyman and unsuccessful 2021 candidate for governor, didn’t respond to requests for comment. Justin Barbera, a contractor, also didn’t respond.

This story was reported and written by New Jersey State House News Service intern reporters Victoria Gladstone of The College of New Jersey and Paige Britt, Emma Ferschweiler, Madison Miller, and Abby Thomas, all of Rowan University.

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