More on the Issues You Care About Most

Learn more

  • Lily Benavides will never take corporate money or lobbying money from the industry oppressing New Jerseyans. As such she will be able to stand up and actually fight those that have been preying on the middle and low income folks. As someone who actually knows the pain that most Jerseyans face day in and day out, she knows how significant a $25 increase on a utility bill is or that these “little concessions” are never so little for those who actually have to live with them. Lily Benavides understands when a line must be drawn and weighs the real consequences of each decision.

    Lily sees the suffering people are living with as she has spent decades fighting unjust systems to help those the system is quickest to leave behind, which means she doesn’t need a focus group or a team of experts to tell her what matters. She’s seen it every day, not just over the few months of a campaign trail when she deigns to drop in on a few select communities she thinks would make a good photo op.

    Anyone can say they want to make New Jersey more affordable, but what’s equally important is having someone you can trust understands the gravity of each decision and isn’t compromised by political ambition or financial incentives. You need someone you can trust is making the decisions in your best interest behind the scenes that you can’t see or offer public comment on.

    Click here to read the deep dive on Lily’s affordability plan

  • Part of the immigration process should be to treat immigrants and refugees with dignity and to value their different cultures.  This is more of a federal level approach but we can still make some substantial changes on state level.

    Click here to read the deep dive on Lily’s immigration policy

  • Supporting Palestinian rights means advocating for justice, equality, self-determination for the Palestinian people, humanity and peace.

  • We need to invest in our new generations by providing the best education for them. We can accomplish that by making some productive changes that will improve education for years to come. 

  • Item description

Affordability

  • Taxes

    • Increase taxes on luxury goods only; continue to have no sales tax on clothes.

    • The wealthy need to pay their fair share. From the way inflation is combated to what gets cut when balancing the budget, the way to correct financial woes are always methods that significantly and directly harm the lower socioeconomic classes. The lowest income shouldn’t be the ones responsible for bearing the weight of economic responsibility for the state and country (or businesses).

    • Implement extra tax for companies that use AI or automation unless they prove they did not lay off employees. Any lay off they will be required to prove had nothing to do with the tech and that a new human was hired to replace the fired employee. If this cannot be proven, the employee can sue for damages and the company will have to start paying a tax that will go into a fund to be used to help people who are impacted by technology in this way.

    • Fix property tax approach to close unjust loopholes that lets certain people effectively cheat the system from grandfathered tax rates on inherited wealth while also making sure people aren’t losing their homes just because of property value fluctuations.

    Utility Costs

    • Go after the true cause of the rate hikes: the data centers.

      • Jerseyans’ utility costs are not skyrocketing strictly because of a power generating problem. It is because the AI data centers being built in Virginia are passing off 75% of their operating costs on the rest of consumers, meaning even Jerseyans are footing the bill for these data centers that are destroying the environment, having a severe detrimental impact on people’s health, and are a direct threat to millions of people’s jobs.

    • Don’t invest in nuclear, which will actually drive up costs.

    • Push forward with renewable energy such as solar, wind, and wave so we become less dependent on fossil fuels and utility companies that use limited resources.

      Incentivize students to go into the clean energy sector to pursue further possible ways to cut down on harmful energy production and still generate enough energy to keep up with demand.

    • Team up with other states, especially those where consumers are likewise being bullied into paying for these tech oligarchs’ destructive data centers’ energy bills and construction costs.

    • Reverse Gov. Murphy’s veto of the bill to require energy usage by these data centers.

    Healthcare Costs

    • Universal healthcare - contrary to claims, having universal healthcare actually lowers healthcare costs

      • Healthcare is a human right; there is no reason why a country as wealthy as the U.S. treats it as though it’s in such short supply or that it’s some luxury good.

      • There are several different ways universal healthcare can be brought to a state, but to actually bring it to fruition will take all the state’s legislators coming together to agree on the method they are willing to push through

    • Start with negotiations with private insurers, pharma, hospitals, etc to bring down costs in the interim as a universal healthcare policy works through the processes

      • Important note: Lily is the only candidate you can trust to do this because both Sherrill and Ciattarelli are funded heavily by the health industry, both in this election and long time connections, with Ciattarelli being linked to the opioid crisis and Sherrill taking exorbitant amounts of money in campaign donations for every congressional campaign she’s run

    • Stricter laws and regulations holding insurers liable for senseless denials, delays, causing damage, etc. 

      • They will be held liable if they implement faulty AI software without thoroughly vetting it. (after the first problem is discovered, anything following will result in increasingly more serious fines, potentially even jail time for higher ups)

      • They will be held liable if they incentivize any practices that could result in harm of a patient, such as denial quotas or rewards for rejections (patient and practitioner can sue since it can lead to problems for the practitioner and extra costs as they try to fight it to advocate for their patient).

      • If a patient dies while waiting on insurance to approve some kind of treatment, an investigation will be launched to see what role the insurance played. If it’s found that the patient had a high probability of survival had they received timely treatment or that the authorization for treatment was delayed an unreasonable amount of time, the insurance can be charged with medical malpractice or negligence

      • Healthcare professionals have the right to request an investigation if they believe an insurer is violating these laws, especially if it is a repeat occurrence with multiple patients (staff like medical office assistants cannot face retaliation by their employer if they file such a report).

    Miscellaneous Cost of Living

    • Reliable public transit and lower commuting costs

      • By improving public transit, it helps ensure even those without cars can get to work

    • Public banks to support local businesses and keep money invested in the community

      • Creating a public bank can provide more affordable loans, support local businesses, and keep money invested in the community.

    • Ensure statewide access to internet so rural and underserved communities can have access at fair rates.

    • New Jersey collects over a billion dollars each year from its lottery, primarily from working-class and low-income individuals. These funds are promoted as benefiting public education. We can gradually reduce our dependence on the state lottery for education and pension funding over the next 5 to 10 years.

    • Set up a program for if someone recently lost their home or small business as a result of the sudden cost hikes to work with them to see if there’s a way to salvage what was lost (such as work out a deal with the bank, help refinance loans, get just compensation if the result of a predatory private equity firm or similar entity responsible for pillaging businesses and communities and leaving them in ruins)

    • She will prioritize the working class, not the donor class.

    • She has some of the most crucial experience that there’s no amount of time or schmoozing Sherrill or Ciattarelli could do to compare: lived experience.

      Lily actually understands what most Jerseyans are facing. She doesn’t have to theorize. She sees it every day. She has dedicated the past twenty years fighting for those the system most ignores or silences and she herself has actually lived with the harsh realities of what corporate politicians like Sherrill and Ciattarelli have caused and tried to spin as benefiting regular people.

      Lily Benavides knows which seemingly little things matter the most; there won’t be a time delay with a need for avid watchdogs and big pressure campaigns for her to know what kind of impact a decision will have on people.

      Ciattarelli tries to claim that being a Jersey guy means he can best relate and Sherrill tries to claim that growing up middle class in Virginia and being so fortunate since means she understands and can be trusted to stand up. This shows how little they understand of what Jerseyans truly face (or even what it means to be a true Jerseyan). A state of immigrants proves you don’t have to be born here to embody Jersey. Bon Jovi or Bruce Springstein: neither quintessential Jersey figure sings about the fortitude of millionaires or corporations like Ciattarelli and Sherrill.

    • She’s not a part of the system that’s caused the problems.

      She does not take money from the people hurting Jerseyans like private insurance, utility companies, and tech companies that result in job loss or those who are seeking to like surveillance companies, the Pro Israeli government lobby, Big Oil, and predatory developers (as her opponents do).

    • Her platform doesn’t contradict itself.

      Studies have shown that nuclear energy will actually raise prices for consumers.

      It is impossible to not back immigrant communities and also be able to deliver on your promise to improve the economy. Even just leaving uncertainty in the air by not definitively stating your position can jeopardize potential deals with other countries who have been spooked by the Hyundai plant catastrophe in Georgia and said if they do business in the U.S. it would only be with states that are very welcoming to immigrants. (We’ve even seen countries engage in talks with California’s governor even though it’s been targeted by the regime in D.C., which shows how much more powerful the support of the state’s government is).

      Ciattarelli intends to do away with the sanctuary state policy altogether and let NJ police go wild working with ICE while also prohibiting sanctuary cities. This will obviously be devastating as we know that Red states being ravaged by ICE and racist police have obliterated their economies. So even if not on a humanitarian level or any of the other common sense reasons, economically speaking, you cannot be anti-immigrant in NJ and also deliver on your promise to help the economy.

      It’s said 25-30% of the labor force are comprised of immigrants. It’s not just those folks who would be impacted since SCOTUS said racial profiling is legal and NJ is one of the diverse states in the country. NJ is an international hub, a shipping port (the Port of New York and New Jersey is biggest on the East Coast and a major supplier of jobs), a major tourist destination, right next to NYC and Philadelphia, it’s even going to host eight of the FIFA World Cup events in 2026; letting NJ suddenly become unwelcoming to non U.S. born citizens (and non white U.S. born citizens) could cause chaos as well as the devastation and irreparable economic blows.

      Even just the uncertainty of Sherrill’s approach is an issue. People may begin to leave the state as a precaution or opt not to move here once they realize the drastic change in tone. The foreign governments won’t want to open factories here if it’s not clear where she stands. There are a lot of indicators suggesting she could wind up getting rid of the sanctuary state policy (ITD), too, but even if she doesn’t, just the uncertainty, strong implications that she won’t push back much against overreach or hold police accountable for violating the ITD (they’re upset they’re barred from cooperating with ICE under the current governor and AG), can cause harm to the economy in itself.

  • Utility rate hikes start and stop at the utility company. It can be solved by generating more power through fossil fuels and nuclear.

    It’s actually because of the AI data centers in Virginia. 75% of the costs are being passed off on other utility consumers, including in NJ. As such, a governor cannot be expected to do anything about these rate hikes who is funded by AI companies, the tech industry, utility companies, or energy suppliers, all of which both Mikie Sherrill and Jack Ciattarelli are. Sherrill’s filings show donations even coming from the data centers specifically.

    Generating more power through fossil fuels and nuclear does not suggest these rates will go down. The NESE fracking pipeline that Hochul has resumed at the behest of the tr ump regime is set to drill at Staten Island, yet even Staten Islanders will still see an increase in their energy bills. Nuclear energy is actually incredibly costly (especially in the event of an incident) and takes time. 

    Even without incident, though, nuclear energy is estimated to be significantly more costly for consumers than other forms “if we were to have a nuclear-based system (supplemented by gas to meet the higher demands in the mornings and evenings), the costs would likely be much higher – potentially as much as three to four times” compared with “When you combine the cost of a mix of wind and solar energy and storage, along with the cost of getting the renewable energy into the grid” https://lens.monash.edu/@technology/2024/06/21/1386823/how-would-a-switch-to-nuclear-affect-electricity-prices-for-households-and-industry

    https://www.forbes.com/sites/dianneplummer/2025/02/12/power-play-the-economics-of-nuclear-vs-renewables/

    Raising taxes on wealthy is unfair or will drive businesses out

    Due to loopholes and exemptions, many corporations and super wealthy ultimately pay a lower percentage of their annual earnings than middle and lower income earners. The services that taxes go towards, like road repair and public safety, are services the wealthy enjoy as the average person does. It shouldn’t be the responsibility of the poorest to carry the financial burdens of the state. The massive transfer of wealth has made it so that less money is flowing through the economy as those at the top hoard what they’ve made (often from penny pinching, slashing benefits, laying off workers, increasing demands of employees, replacing workers with AI and automation, outsourcing, all while giving themselves bigger bonuses). This means there is less money to go around among a larger number of people all while businesses continue to raise prices and lower wages.

    Businesses used to pay a far higher tax rate and did not suffer for it. The economy did not suffer for it. Businesses are the ones driving up costs for consumers while also failing to provide people a liveable wage, which then drives the need for social safety nets that much more. Businesses keep wages low, no longer offer benefits, they cut long-time employees’ hours so they can hire new people at lower rates, they require more of their employees without increasing wages, and then they replace people with AI and machines, executing sudden mass layoffs without any warning.They are fostering an impossible system that has stunted the American Dream for most, while at the same time leading to mutually assured destruction since fewer people are able to buy things and fewer people are paying income tax or sales tax. 

    Off Shore wind is harmful to the environment

    [insert reality]

    Nuclear energy is a more affordable alternative to renewable energy sources

    Nuclear energy is actually far more expensive than other forms of clean energy. It is more costly to initially set up, it takes years to get up and running, and then it is incredibly expensive to keep running.

  • Jack Ciattarelli (R - MAGA)

    • Ultimately plans to eliminate taxes on corporations altogether (plans to reduce corporate taxes drastically from the start)

      • This will devastate small businesses as it is meant as a way to entice corporations to come into the state; small businesses are not taxed at the same rate these corporations are so it only benefits the big businesses that will likely harm small business owners

      • Corporations are already here at the current tax rate meaning they don’t need a reduced tax rate (especially since the expected incoming NYC mayor is talking about raising corporate tax rate to match NJ’s)

    • Campaign is funded by every entity crushing Jerseyans

    • Has financial stake in almost every entity crushing Jerseyans via the stock market

    • Millionaire - considered top 1-2% depending what metrics you use

    • Won’t raise taxes on wealthy

    Mikie Sherrill (D - Centrist/Establishment)

    • Campaign is funded by every entity crushing Jerseyans

    • Takes a significant amount of money from oil and gas suppliers, as well as utility companies

    • Millionaire - one percenter 

    • Won’t raise taxes on wealthy

    • Repeatedly fails to cosponsor Medicare for All legislation that’s brought up in Congress (even as recently as this April), though over 100 other Dems have cosponsored it

    • Claims she’ll implement a “utility freeze” - this was to try to capitalize on Zohran Mamdani’s campaign platform where he promised a rent freeze. Even Governor Murphy says this utility freeze as she’s proposing isn't realistic

    • Supported a deregulating crypto bill that Biden had to veto

    What Else to Know

    • They both consistently lie and change their stories. Throughout this election they have gone back and forth to appease the crowd they’re speaking to.

    • Ciattarelli’s ad against Sherrill was taken out of context. What she said (and what is true) is that at one time environmentally positive policies used to be really expensive, “it’s gonna cost you an arm and a leg, but if you’re a good person you’ll do it,” but now it’s actually much more cost efficient to use green energy than dirty energy sources.

    • Both Ciattarelli and Sherrill are funded by companies that have engaged in mass layoffs despite making big profits. They have zero incentive to help average Jerseyans once they win the election.

    • Before even announcing her campaign publicly, Sherrill took $280,773.25 in donations was running from financial institutions like JP Morgan Chase, law firms like Paul Weiss and Walsh Pizzi O'Reilly Falanga LLP , multiple AI companies, and even dirty energy companies like PBF Holding (petroleum and coal) - Why do these donations matter? It points to who she truly serves and how she sees regular people of this state in relation to the elites of this country

    • The AI sector is incredibly thrilled at the prospect of either Sherrill or Ciattarelli winning because they believe both candidates are very AI friendly and both support deregulation. This should concern everyone as we know AI is dangerous on 3 notable fronts:
      1) it’s horrible for the environment and people’s health,
      2) it poses serious risks with how it’s used and
      3) it’s going to lead to millions losing their jobs within the next 12 months.

      AI is the reason utility rates have climbed; why we see so many layoffs; it’s helped push our democracy to this point; it’s making people who live near data centers sick. We’ve increasingly seen people get duped by AI videos and we’ve seen people’s voices and IP stolen. We’re seeing how AI can be weaponized and though we still can identify AI a lot of the time, that’s rapidly changing. Some of the very people who created this technology are now trying to sound the alarm and are begging legislators to crack down. The window is closing quickly to be able to put any kind of regulations on this thing.

      AI has infiltrated industries that people always thought were safeguarded, but it’s also forcing people into an impossible situation where the only really in demand jobs right now are for building these data centers. Leaders continue to cut corners and refuse to ask even common sense questions in hopes that they’ll be at the forefront of all this. Now we have two candidates running for governor who are outright praised because of how favorable to the industry they have shown they are and how amenable to deregulation.

      Wherever this tech is going to bring us, Jerseyans need to know that the choices their governor is making for them going forward is something thoroughly considered without any corners being cut in the process, that it truly is what’s best for Jerseyans, not those who are building a world that will see most people jobless.

Immigration

    • Pass the Immigrant Trust Act into law (codify the sanctuary state policy that is currently just an Executive Order called the Immigrant Trust Directive and offers fewer protections than the act would).

    • Support a permanent status to TPS and DACA holders by creating state and municipalities resolutions for this purpose.

    • Support DAPA (Deferred Action for Parents of Americans and Lawful Permanent Residents) by creating state and municipalities resolutions for this purpose.

    • Provide shelter and financial support for asylum seekers and refugees while waiting for their immigration process to be completed (State).

    • Eliminate costs associated with any immigration process. Instead, create community services as a way to pay back (State).

    • Prohibit the detention of asylum seekers/refugees and prohibit the separation of families (State).

    • Abolish ICE (Immigration and Customs Enforcement)

    • Employ experts in immigration to expedite and reduce the length of immigration queues (State and federal).

    • Close the ICE detention centers and stop unjust deportations.

    • Prohibit private prisons companies to do business in NJ.

    • Prohibit NJ police departments from aiding immigration officers.

    • Provide funds for NJ community programs to help new citizens.

    • Tighten labor laws so undocumented workers have the same rights.

    • Prohibit any type of discrimination against immigrants in any gubernatorial agency, school, or health center regardless of their immigration status (State)

    • Mandate schools, hospitals, and gubernatorial agencies provide translators to non-english speaking citizens (State)

    • Reenact the 245(i) Adjustment for undocumented immigrants who entered without a visa (Federal, give support).

    • Hold accountable any Border Patrol or Immigration Officer that commits any human rights violation (Federal, give support).

    • Create a just program for seasonal workers making sure they are paid under the law and that they have good living conditions (Federal, apply to State workers).

    • Codifying the sanctuary state policy offers more clarity for law enforcement and entities to know how they are supposed to interact with ICE. It ensures communities aren’t living with constant uncertainty that the policy may go away at a moment’s notice. It helps protect law enforcement and those in sensitive spaces with the power of law.

    • 25% of New Jersey’s population was born outside the U.S.. 41% of children have at least one immigrant parent. It is also considered one of the most diverse states in the country where many different languages are spoken. You cannot protect Jerseyans, Jersey’s economy, its children without fiercely protecting its immigrant population. We know they are not merely going after violent undocumented criminals, but rather they are targeting anyone they want to claim, using racial profiling to go after U.S. citizens, particularly Black, Hispanic/Latine/Latinx/Latino, Native American, and Middle Eastern folks, so this state must stand together.

    • On the global stage we are seeing other countries pull out of deals they have in red states as a result of treatment they’ve received, particularly after the incident in Georgia at the Hyundai factory to South Koreans who were there to help train U.S. citizens. Some countries have, however, shown a potential willingness to work with states that have shown very pro immigrant policies, like California, where they may be getting targeted by the federal government but the state’s policy of being pro immigrant has deemed them a worthwhile business partner.

    • When undocumented immigrants are given protections, it means that employers and landlords can’t take advantage of them, which benefits U.S. citizens as well because they are not forced to compete with people willing to work for or pay far lower rates

  • Immigrants are criminals

    Millions of people from all over the world have legally entered the US and overstayed their visas, but this type of act does not make them criminals. Instead, they are considered undocumented, which is a civil violation under US law and not a criminal one. To be considered a criminal, an undocumented immigrant must first have committed a criminal act unrelated to their immigration status.

    https://us-ilc.com/undocumented-immigrants-are-not-criminals/

    A robust body of research shows that welcoming immigrants into American communities not only does not increase crime, but can actually strengthen public safety. In fact, immigrants—including undocumented immigrants—are less likely to commit crimes than the U.S.-born. This is true at the national, state, county, and neighborhood levels, and for both violent and non-violent crime.

    The American Immigration Council compared crime data to demographic data from 1980 to 2022, the most recent data available. The data showed that as the immigrant share of the population grew, the crime rate declined.

    https://www.americanimmigrationcouncil.org/fact-sheet/debunking-myth-immigrants-and-crime/

    Cooperating with ICE makes communities safer

    Cooperating with ICE actually makes communities less safe because people are less willing to work with police to report crimes (less willing to report incidents, offer witness testimony). Studies have shown this cooperation has statistically led to an increase in crime as it’s led to a decrease in immigrant reporting. It also diverts funds and resources meant for local public safety and law enforcement and redirects them to funding federal immigration enforcement efforts.

    Fewer immigrants means more jobs and higher pay

    Fewer immigrants means a drop in demand, so it actually means we see a loss of jobs, especially when businesses are owned by immigrants or in communities where there are a lot of immigrants who may feel nervous because of people they’re close to or even fear getting profiled themselves. 

    Immigrants are not the ones keeping pay low and can even drive up wages in certain sectors: immigration has increased the wages of non-college-educated workers over the past 20 years and has enabled more women to join the work-force as they’ve offered affordable childcare https://abic.us/facts-immigrants-arent-stealing-your-jobs-or-lowering-wages/

    Being undocumented means a person is illegal. Most people came here by illegally crossing the border

    The term “undocumented immigrant” describes individuals who lack official legal authorization to live or remain in the United States. This means they do not possess a valid visa, green card, or other legal permission granted by immigration authorities. 

    People have accused asylum seekers of being illegal/undocumented, but this is incorrect. People have a legal right to claim asylum -safety from persecution- in the U.S.. They must merely be in the U.S. or at a port of entry to do so, and can therefore claim asylum regardless of how they entered. Upon claiming asylum, they are not undocumented or “illegal”.

    https://legalclarity.org/are-asylum-seekers-considered-undocumented/

    Millions of people from all over the world have legally entered the US and overstayed their visas, but this type of act does not make them criminals. Instead, they are considered undocumented, which is a civil violation under US law and not a criminal one.

    Even minor errors on a document or working while being a student can count as a visa violation.

    Recently, we have seen the regime illegally stripping people of their visas without warning or cause, which technically meant they were undocumented and here illegally. These were typically students who were here on student visas doing everything by the book and then, without warning, had their visas cancelled with neither them nor their school being notified.

    Illegal immigrants are the ones bringing fentanyl into the U.S. and smuggling it across weak points in the southern border

    U.S. citizens are almost always the ones found to be the people bringing fentanyl and fentanyl substances into the U.S. and almost always through legal points of entry.

    In 2023,93 percent of fentanyl seizures occurred at official border crossings or legal checkpoints, and nearly all involved people who are legally authorized to cross the border.

    Undocumented immigrants are taking money away from programs like Medicaid, SNAP, and Social Security.

    They are not able to access these benefits. In fact, undocumented immigrants contribute billions of dollars to these programs every year, yet are unable to ever actually receive any benefits from them.

    The cruel way immigration is being handled right now is the only way to handle it efficiently on a large scale

    It is far less efficient in the manner it is being conducted as they are not rounding up the criminals they say they planned to. (There was a list of a few thousand immigrants with arrest warrants out at the start of this term and they’ve arrested barely any of them) This strategy has made it actually easier for real criminals to hide as people are not reporting crimes. As they wrongfully arrest people, it costs millions in lawsuits. Neighborhoods are being needlessly destroyed, economies being devastated, communities and families being traumatized. 

    They are going after the people showing up for their appointments and who are working and paying taxes because those are the easy targets, even though those are the integral members of our communities. The way to do this efficiently, without cruelty, without wasting money, and without traumatizing schools and families is to add more immigration judges, make sure there are more immigration lawyers (not force small children who can’t read to represent themselves in court), to work on a pathway to citizenship that actually makes sense, and to create a system that encourages more cooperation from the community to report wrongdoing, not make people more afraid of law enforcement than the criminals.

    This method also means fewer people are contributing to the economy, taxes, and participating in their community. Taxpayer money is going to the private companies running the operations and to the actual operations themselves as far fewer people are paying taxes and participating in the economy by buying goods.


    There is no reason to be so cruel or for the U.S. to turn into one of the countries it has always denigrated. For years people on both sides of the aisle have continued to dehumanize immigrants so people would feel numb to the kind of cruelty we see today, even when it means they’re worse off as a result, too. They use immigrants as a scapegoat to distract people so they don’t realize who is truly to blame for the affordability crisis and reduced quality of life people are facing. They use immigrants as a way to distract people from realizing that their elected officials aren’t actually doing anything to make their lives better and are merely enriching themselves and their wealthy donors. Immigrants have been demonized in the U.S. throughout the years, but the scale of the cruelty and the complicity with such cruelty as people are able to see the horrors with their own eyes in real time and having been taught evils of the past that should have been a deterrent is incomprehensible.

  • Sherrill’s Plan:

    • Definitely won’t sign the Immigrant Trust Act into law

      • Claims she fears it being challenged and going up to the Supreme Court, indicating an unwillingness to take risks (other states have successfully implemented ITAs)

    • While previously implying she’d protect the Immigrant Trust Directive (Executive Order version of the Sanctuary State policy), she is now backtracking Per the NJ Monitorhttps://newjerseymonitor.com/2025/09/22/where-njs-governor-hopefuls-stand-on-allowing-cops-to-aid-immigration-agents/

      • Sherrill, a congresswoman since 2019, has previously praised the directive without explicitly saying whether she’d seek to continue it if she’s elected. Asked during a Sunday gubernatorial debate whether the directive would remain in place if she becomes governor in January, she declined to answer.

      • “What I’m going to do is make sure we’re following the law and the Constitution, so that’ll include due process rights and the Constitution,” she said.

      • Her support of the directive was muddier when she spoke at a recent New Jersey Policemen’s Benevolent Association event, where an officer asked what she’d do about illegal immigration and whether she’d allow New Jersey cops to assist federal immigration officers. She responded as she did at Sunday’s debate — saying, “I’m going to follow the law and the Constitution” — comments that were met with some groans from the officers in attendance.

      • She added: “We don’t want lawbreakers here. But at the same time, we also need our officers to follow the law, and that’s what I’ll require. Following the law and the Constitution.”

    • Taking money from firms with contracts with ICE or vying for contracts (like Axon Enterprises and Palantir)

    • She is funded by many surveillance tech companies

      • Remember:  Hochul greenlit surveillance drone projects without alerting the public, the full capabilities of which New Yorkers still don’t know, though they do know they’ve been used to go after protesters and do have a range of invasive capabilities. Sherrill could greenlight surveillance projects without the public ever knowing

    • Anti-immigrant history

      • Lowering deportable offense threshold

      • Voting in favor of the deliberately misnamed “Protecting Women from Violence by Illegal Aliens Act” that put undocumented women who were victims of domestic violence at severe risk

      • Voting to fund the border wall (though she denies this)

      • Though she claims to be against private prison companies running detention centers, she has repeatedly failed to cosponsor fellow NJ Rep Bonnie Watson Coleman’s bill to ban this

      • Didn’t show up to the vote that would make it so SBA offices would be taken out of any districts dubbed sanctuary districts, meaning she’s either willing to let small businesses be pitted against immigrant communities or she’s going to get rid of the sanctuary state policy

    • Plans to implement a more pro-cop friendly AG who will let law enforcement work more with ICE

    Ciattarelli’s Plan:

    • MAGA – pretty self explanatory

    • Going to get rid of the Immigrant Trust Directive altogether“Executive order No. 1 is ‘no sanctuary cities,’ and we will not be a sanctuary state,” he said

      • Block cities from declaring themselves sanctuary cities as well“In doing so, I will ban municipalities from declaring themselves sanctuary cities,” Ciattarelli said. “Those who disobey could have municipal aid withheld from Trenton until they comply with my administration.”

    • Dedicated to the regime’s immigration policy/cruelty

      • “I will work with the Trump administration to fix our broken immigration system,” Ciattarelli added, signaling support for a federal-state partnership on immigration enforcement.

      • “I’ll support whatever [Trump is] gonna do with his final mass deportation plan,”he said. “But if there are people here who are not going to be deported, we need to know who they are. And the way to do that is with a government-issued ID.”

    • Talks about wanting the historically racist police who voiced complaints about not being allowed to work with ICE to be able to cooperate with ICE and help their efforts

    • Jack Ciatarelli endorsed one of Donald Trump’s most radical proposals: ending birthright citizenship to the children of undocumented immigrants born in the US 

      • NJ’s current AG is part of the group of AGs working to fight the Executive Order

    The Problem:

    • This means people are forever living in fear

    • [Sherrill’s] comments have frustrated immigrant advocates like Amy Torres, the executive director of the New Jersey Alliance for Immigrant Justice. Torres said after eight years of Murphy championing rights for immigrants, she’s concerned the state is “certainly not going to see more protections for immigrants” under either Ciattarelli or Sherrill.“It’s not that there aren’t people who understand and realize the importance of this issue. It’s just that, unfortunately, of the two people that are running for governor, one understands it’s an issue, the other seems to think it doesn’t exist at all,” she said.“I don’t want to hear the words ‘diversity’ or ‘belonging’ or ‘community.’ I want to hear, ‘This is a state of immigrants and we will defend them, which we’ve been doing for the last eight years,’” Torres said. “It’s impossible to tell where she is.”

    • If you don’t stand behind immigrants, you don’t stand behind New Jersey

      • Even Patricia Campos Medina says, “Here in New Jersey, undocumented immigrants contributed $1.3 billion in state and local taxes — despite being among the most excluded and unprotected members of the workforce. The New Jersey office for New Americans in their annual report showed that working age undocumented immigrants start businesses at a higher rate than Americans, estimating that approximately 25,000 small businesses in NJ are owned by an undocumented immigrant. These numbers reveal an undeniable truth: Latinos and immigrants don’t just survive here — they sustain our economy, power our public services, and shoulder the cost of government services they are barred from accessing.”https://www.insidernj.com/jack-ciattarellis-mirage-a-path-to-recognition-for-immigrants/

    • We know the fight is in the states (every Democrat in Congress consistently tells us that it’s up to the states and we see that any wins are happening through the states). This means that the person at the top NEEDS to be a staunch advocate for immigrants, an unwavering champion in this fight.

    • Once you let ICE in or a federally controlled police force in, there’s no getting them out. Once you set up surveillance, there’s no reversing that.

    • Running away from this, ignoring this, or playing into this is only going to harm the state of New Jersey, whether people believe they are touched by immigration or not. People didn’t think that the mass deportations would negatively impact them when they voted MAGA in 2024, yet nationwide we’re seeing those consequences play out.