Republican trying to block sanctuary state slams “utopian ideals”

A New Jersey Republican’s new legislation would prevent “utopian ideals” regarding undocumented migrants from further burdening the Garden State.

Senator Michael Testa, a fifth-year official who represents the state’s 1st Legislative District, is rolling out a legislative package within the next couple of weeks that, if successful, would no longer make the Garden State a sanctuary for migrants. It would also push a federal fix by the Biden administration and Congress to enact better policies to alleviate the issue.

Immigration has become a heated topic across the United States, with the Biden administration facing criticism for record numbers of migrants being encountered at the southern border. About 300,000 migrants—nearly 10,000 per day—came into the United States through Mexico in December alone, and federal border agents encountered about 2.5 million migrants in total last year, according to data from Customs and Border Protection (CBP), surpassing the previous record high from a year earlier.

In a phone conversation on Wednesday with Newsweek, Testa said the migrant crisis has rapidly developed into a top political issue that is negatively affecting his state’s healthcare, public safety and school systems—and current infrastructure cannot maintain record levels of influx.

“These utopian ideals lead to dystopian results,” Testa said. “And when you bring individuals from the third world to the first world, and you allow the unfettered flow of third-world individuals into the state of New Jersey, guess what happens: New Jersey becomes much more like the third world rather than being the beacon that New Jersey can and should be.”

He said the issue goes back to Governor Phil Murphy’s campaign ahead of being elected in 2018, touting New Jersey as a place of refuge for migrants. Murphy’s administration, according to his website, has prioritized protecting Dreamers—mostly comprised of undocumented youth—and opposing mass deportation efforts. It has also provided driver’s licenses and statewide IDs to undocumented residents.

Newsweek reached out to Murphy’s office via email for comment.

Testa said that “the really radical left progressive form of the Democrat Party has unfortunately been driving the policy train for the Democrat party for quite some time.”

He did credit New York City Mayor Eric Adams, a Democrat, for being critical of federal policies and for labeling the issue as a “humanitarian crisis.”

Testa doesn’t believe all illegal immigration is coming from Mexico or Latin America.

“I know that I’m going to be accused by those on the left of being xenophobic and things of that nature. To the contrary,” he said. “I believe 100 percent in legal immigration to the United States of America into the great Garden State.

“I am the product of migrants of immigrants, like my grandparents on my mother’s side who met in a Nazi concentration camp and came to the United States of America to give their daughter, my mother, a better life. My great-grandparents came from Italy and Sicily to adapt to the United States of America and be where they believed the roads were paved with gold and opportunity in this great nation.”

Murphy, New York Governor Kathy Hochul and governors from Arizona, California, Colorado, Illinois, Maryland, Massachusetts and New Mexico, who represent over 100 million Americans, are requesting $1.4 billion in aid to states and localities in addition to a comprehensive border security legislative package.

“While the Biden Administration has made important progress in managing immigration at the Southwest border, the number of migrants arriving in states and cities seeking emergency shelter continues to increase at record pace,” reads a letter dated January 22, addressed to the Biden administration and both chambers of Congress.

It continues: “States and cities have spent billions to address inaction by Congress and match these challenges with solutions for our state and local economies. However, it is clear our national immigration system is outdated and unprepared to respond to this unprecedented global migration. Without serious reform informed by evidence-based solutions, the challenges facing states and localities will only grow.”

Earlier this month, Democratic Mayor Sam Joshi of Edison, New Jersey, drew some backlash when he said that without federal aid, undocumented migrants must leave his township of more than 100,000 residents.

“Our position in Edison Township is that they’re not welcome here,” Joshi told local News 12. “They’re illegal, and they belong on the other side of the border…We don’t want them in Edison, period. That’s the bottom line.”

Along with eliminating all current sanctuary cities, Testa’s legislation seeks to repeal the “Immigrant Trust Directive” enacted through the New Jersey Attorney General’s Office.

In November 2018, then-Attorney General Gurbir Grewal issued what was described as a landmark statewide policy aimed to strengthen trust between law enforcement and immigrant communities—including ensuring that victims and witnesses feel safe when reporting crimes to police, without fear of deportation or other retribution.

A spokesperson for Attorney General Matthew Platkin, a Democrat, declined to comment to Newsweek on drafted legislation.

Testa, who said he has not yet discussed his legislation with Democratic colleagues, said people in his district and across the state are paying more attention to the issue due to “horrific crimes” committed by people here illegally, as well as the adverse effects on local and statewide systems that are intended to take care of New Jersey residents first.

He puts the onus on Murphy for perpetuating the crisis.

“I start with the oath of office,” Testa said. “You think of someone like Governor Phil Murphy, who proudly proclaimed he was going to make the state of New Jersey a sanctuary state…He was not telling the truth. That oath means what it says; it is plain and unambiguous language that someone is taking the oath of office to uphold the law.

“How is one swearing to uphold the law and simultaneously saying that we’re going to not comply with federal law, and we’re not going to allow our law enforcement agencies to comply with federal law enforcement agencies in decline, declare the state a sanctuary state? Those are incongruent pathways.”