"New data reveals that more than 90 percent of the state’s municipalities have cases pending in immigration court, the fifth-largest caseload in the country"

“ICE has long arrested people who have no criminal history, as well as people with very low-level, nonviolent offenses, and people who have lived here since they were children, and who now have U.S. citizen children of their own. But the prior administration created a set of priorities to try to focus ICE resources on cases deemed more serious. The current administration has abandoned the idea of enforcement priorities....o ensure that these children could find a safe place to live while here in the United States, the government used to ensure that parents or other family members who came forward to care for them could do so safely, regardless of their immigration status,...Now, ICE is specifically targeting parents and family members of arriving children for deportation, and the administration has announced it will be investigating parents or guardians for possible criminal prosecutions, based upon their efforts to bring their children to safety. This policy affects not only those family members, but also the children, who are likely to find themselves in foster care, group homes, or unsafe situations when parents and family cannot come forward to care for them.”  

-  Farrin Anello, senior staff attorney at the American Civil Liberties Union of New Jersey

Read more on NJ Spotlight.