NEWTON, N.J. – The county-level results against the Murphy Administration took another step on Tuesday when North Jersey’s Sussex County passed a referendum formally opposed Sanctuary Statehood.
Sussex’s referendum grants the Sussex County Board of Chosen Freeholders the ability to use county resources to assist federal immigration authorities, notably ICE.
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The final tally county-wide was 22,081 for the measure and only 10,982 opposed.
Tuesday’s vote was the culmination of a contentious process a bitter back-and-forth with Trenton. Republican-strong Sussex and Murphy’s Attorney General Gurbir Grewal – who issued the Sanctuary State directive back in spring 2019 barring local law enforcement from cooperating with ICE – had previously scrapped over the wording of the referendum. An original proposed referendum “direct” the sheriff to act; the new wording adopted Tuesday is permissive.
Sussex isn’t on its own. Three other New Jersey counties – Ocean, Monmouth, and Cape May – are all involved in litigation with the Murphy Administration over the same issue.
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