Case Summary
LWVNJ and 29 other community organizations filed an amicus brief supporting several “Community Trust Policies” enacted by the cities of Paterson, Hoboken, Jersey City, and Newark. Collectively, these policies limit cooperation between local police and federal immigration authorities to promote trust among all residents, regardless of immigration status. The federal government sued the four cities, asserting the policies obstructed the federal government’s ability to enforce immigration laws and violated the Supremacy Clause of the United States Constitution.
The cities of Hoboken, Newark, Jersey City, and Paterson, which are in northern New Jersey, are home to many immigrant communities, with residents from around the world. By some estimates, 19% of Hoboken residents, 40.8% of Jersey City residents, 34.5% of Newark residents, and 44.1% of Paterson residents were immigrants in 2023.
Collectively, these cities have a set of policies that limit cooperation between local police and federal immigration authorities called Community Trust Policies. Among the provisions are Newark’s executive order barring police or municipal employees from investigating citizenship status and Jersey City’s policy forbidding expending city resources on immigration enforcement without explicit court orders or legal mandates under federal or state law.
On May 22, 2025, the United States Department of Justice (DOJ) filed a lawsuit against the four cities in the United States District Court for the District of New Jersey, alleging the Community Trust Policies violated the Supremacy Clause of the United States Constitution. The DOJ alleged these policies prevented Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and Customs and Border Protection (CBP) from taking immigrants arrested for alleged crimes into custody and obstructed mandatory information sharing between the local governments and the Department of Homeland Security (DHS). The DOJ asserted the Community Trust Policies violated the Supremacy Clause of the United States Constitution by obstructing the federal government’s powers in immigration law, unlawfully discriminating against the federal government, and illegally attempting to regulate the federal government.
On October 28, 2025, the League of Women Voters of New Jersey (LWVNJ) and 29 other allied community groups filed an amicus brief supporting the defendant cities. The brief asserted that the Community Trust Policies provided several important benefits to cities, including promoting public safety by conserving limited municipal resources, allowing open interaction between immigration and law enforcement, and protecting access to municipal programs such as health care and municipal ID for immigrants. For example, the amici explained that removing local police from immigration enforcement encourages survivors of domestic abuse to report their abuser. Additionally, the Community Trust Policies allowed local police to focus on violent crime and serious offenses instead of diverting capacity to immigration enforcement. LWVNJ and its co-amici asked the court to grant the defendant cities’ motion to dismiss the DOJ’s lawsuit.
LWVNJ was represented in this matter by the ACLU of New Jersey.
LWV Timeline
DOJ sues New Jersey cities
The United States Department of Justice files a federal lawsuit against four northern New Jersey cities, alleging that their Community Trust Policies obstruct federal immigration enforcement and violate the United States Constitution’s Supremacy Clause.
LWVNJ files amicus brief
LWVNJ and allied community groups file an amicus brief supporting the defendant cities. The brief argues Community Trust Policies are legitimate uses of states’ police powers to direct their local law enforcement and that the policies bring significant benefits to the cities and improve public safety.