STAFFORD, TOWNSHIP, N.J. – The Stafford Township Council unanimously adopted a resolution Tuesday night calling on Governor Mikie Sherrill and the New Jersey Legislature to repeal a series of recently enacted immigration and law enforcement laws, arguing the measures undermine officer safety, hinder cooperation with federal authorities, and jeopardize public safety.
The resolution, approved at the council’s July 21 meeting, targets several new statutes that restrict cooperation and coordination between federal immigration authorities and New Jersey state and local police, impose new identification requirements on ICE agents, limit the sharing of certain personal information, and expand protections for locations where federal civil immigration enforcement is restricted. Township officials contend the laws interfere with legitimate policing, create legal uncertainty, and could expose officers to unnecessary danger.
The measure also cites the recent attack on an ICE officer in Stafford Township as evidence that New Jersey’s sanctuary policies have real-world consequences.
Last month, an ICE officer conducting an enforcement operation in Stafford Township was struck by a suspect accused of avoiding apprehension in his vehicle. Federal authorities charged the suspect, an illegal immigrant, with assaulting a federal officer after the incident left the agent injured.
In its resolution, the council links that attack with unrest outside Newark’s Delaney Hall ICE detention facility and notes that New Jersey’s sanctuary policies have already prompted multiple lawsuits filed by the federal government challenging the state’s immigration enforcement restrictions.
stafford-resolutionBeyond urging repeal of the laws, the resolution encourages state, county, and local law enforcement agencies to cooperate with federal authorities “to the fullest extent permitted by law” and reaffirms the township’s position that immigration enforcement is a federal responsibility under the U.S. Constitution. It directs the municipal clerk to send copies of the resolution to Governor Sherrill, legislative leaders, the Attorney General, the U.S. Attorney for New Jersey, and other state and federal officials.
Retired New Jersey Superior Court Judge Michael Donohue, who presently serves as Chairman of the America First Policy Institute’s New Jersey Chapter, thanked the governing body during the meeting’s public comment period:
🚨 Thank you Stafford Township, New Jersey for becoming the latest community to adopt a resolution opposing Sanctuary Statehood policies!💪
An ICE officer was nearly killed here in June by an illegal motorist.@JudgeMichaelD @a1policy & I came to express our gratitude 🇺🇸 pic.twitter.com/q9sEAYRTmx
— Matt Rooney (@MattRooneyNJ) July 22, 2026
