NEWTON, NJ – Back in April, the Sussex County Freeholder Board decided to give its county’s residents the chance to vote on a resolution opposing Phil Murphy’s Sanctuary State directive.
On May 17th, state Attorney General Gurbir Grewal sent a letter to the Sussex County Clerk demanding that the question “must not be included” on Sussex’s ballot November.
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Sussex Sheriff Mike Strada, a Republican, says the Murphy Administration’s strong-arm tactics are violative of the state and federal constitution. So Strada authored a letter to U.S. Attorney General William Barr.
“On behalf of myself and several members of the Freeholder Board, I am requesting your guidance in this matter. As the chief law enforcement officer of the United States of America, I believe that law enforcement in New Jersey should be following the federal government in matters of a federal nature,” wrote Strada. “Protecting the borders of the United States, as well as immigration and citizenship (and the criminal laws governing same), are federal matters and not the purview of the states. After all, we are Americans first and foremost, and not the citizens of 50 individual nation-states.”
Strada’s full letter is viewable here.
It’s unclear at this point whether the clash between one of New Jersey’s smallest counties and Trenton will escalate into a full legal conflict ahead of the November General Election.
The Democrat Administration of Phil Murphy has frequently clashed with President Trump on a variety of issues, most notable the N.J. sanctuary state directive which took effect earlier this year and now bars local and state law enforcement from cooperating with ICE.
Sussex itself is very anti-Murphy; protestors outnumbered supporters at a recent Murphy appearance in the county.
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