Standing Up for Immigrant Rights in New Jersey
Make the Road New Jersey members have led the charge on key policy victories in New Jersey.
- In 2018, youth leaders worked in coalition to pass legislation that expands access to state financial aid to New Jersey’s undocumented students and DACA recipients, breaking down barriers to higher education for thousands of immigrant young people state-wide.
- Make the Road New Jersey members helped win a landmark investment in legal defense of detained immigrants facing deportation from Gov. Phil Murphy – the largest initial investment towards universal representation for detainees of any state in the nation. In 2019, the state increased the funding to $3.1 million, which will aid hundreds of more families with critical legal services at a moment when the federal government has attempted to deport and detain thousands.
- Make the Road NJ’s activism resulted in the state of New Jersey divesting from private immigration prisons.
- After a campaign to make New Jersey a fair and welcoming state, New Jersey Attorney General Gurbir Grewal issued a groundbreaking directive to ensure New Jersey law enforcement do not aid in the deportation of immigrants. Make the Road NJ worked closely as a member of the NJ Alliance for Immigrant Justice to win the Immigrant Trust Directive.
Leading the Resistance and Defending DACA
Our members have led the resistance in New Jersey to the Trump administration’s attacks on immigrants. Make the Road New Jersey youth members led a 1,000 person day of action in five locations across the state on the day DACA was scheduled to end, and hosted more than two dozen rallies, including civil disobedience, to push our congressional representatives to support a clean Dream Act. Our youth members also participated in federal litigation that successfully blocked the end of DACA. When Trump began separating families at the border and caging children, we mobilized a dozen actions, including a 3,000 person rally in Newark, to protest the cruel and inhumane policies. Make the Road NJ leaders have mobilized hundreds around the state to demand Congress defund ICE.
