Immigration policy a key election issue in New Jersey races

Congressional candidates running in New Jersey agree border security poses deep concerns but split on how to stem illegal immigration. (Photo by John Moore | Getty Images)

As New Jersey voters begin to mull how to vote in November — when the White House, a Senate seat, and all 12 House seats will be on the ballot — immigration is a key issue dividing the two major parties.

Republicans nationwide have made the influx of migrants at the southern border a focal point of their campaigns, while Democrats have accused Republicans of blocking immigration reform so the GOP can campaign on chaos on the border.

Immigrant advocates, meanwhile, say Democrats have bowed to pressure from the right and are beginning to mirror Republicans’ tough-on-immigrants policies.

This is especially disappointing in New Jersey, a state where immigrants make up nearly a quarter of the population, said Erik Cruz Morales, policy manager with the New Jersey Alliance for Immigrant Justice.

“I think the candidates that are running for office should really stand up for their communities and their districts because the majority of people who live in some of these districts are immigrant populations,” he said. 

Rep. Rob Menendez said Democrats should not allow Republicans to create the narrative on the nation’s immigration problems. (Edwin J. Torres/NJ Governor’s Office)

His frustration is shared by Rep. Rob Menendez (D-08), who agreed that Democrats need to articulate their own vision of a better immigration policy. Menendez is seeking reelection in a majority Hispanic district that includes sections of Jersey City and Newark. 

Democrats must lay out a clear vision of what comprehensive immigration reform looks like and show how it impacts the economy, Menendez said in an interview. The party should support work authorization so more people can find jobs and tout how much immigrants contribute in tax dollars, he added.

“That should be the message for Democrats — if we solve immigration and if we fix our broken system, we win in the future, and we’d be stronger because of it,” he said. “That, to me, is why we should all dedicate ourselves to figuring it out, and not allowing the Republican narrative be how we talk about this.”

‘There has to be a better way’

This year’s Republican National Convention featured attendees holding signs calling for mass deportation, and the party’s presidential nominee, Donald Trump, has said he’d push for the deportation of 11 million undocumented immigrants nationwide.

Anthony Valdes is the Republican House candidate in the 8th Congressional District. (Courtesy of Valdes)

Those are not positions shared by Menendez’s Republican challenger, Anthony Valdes, a son of immigrants who works as a dwelling inspector. Valdes supports building the border wall that Trump championed and said more funds should go to securing the border, but he doesn’t support mass deportation and would rather see a push for working papers for some undocumented immigrants. 

Valdes, a West New York native, said voters he speaks to take no issue with legal immigration, but they don’t believe what’s happening now is fair compared to how “they had to really suffer” when they immigrated to the United States decades ago. Immigrants who arrived legally believe undocumented immigrants are having an easier time accessing resources like housing and health care than legal immigrants, Valdes said.

“We’re a country of immigrants, but what’s happening at our southern border, in my opinion, is an invasion. These people are coming in illegally,” he said. 

And the blame for that lies with the Biden-Harris administration, said GOP political consultant Alex Wilkes. The spike in border crossings has led to every state “becoming a border state,” Wilkes said, and that’s why the issue is top of mind even for New Jersey Republicans who live more than 2,000 miles away from the border with Mexico.

Since Biden took office, illegal border crossings have averaged 2 million per year, according to the Washington Post, an average more than quadruple that of Donald Trump’s administration. Crossings plunged earlier this year after the Biden administration used emergency powers to suspend the entry of most migrants attempting to illegally enter the U.S., effectively cutting access to asylum seekers. 

Wilkes hailed Trump’s “remain in Mexico” policy, which required migrants seeking asylum to stay in Mexico until their immigration court date, as a success. Now, she said, Republicans have a clear message to close the border, deport “the most dangerous undocumented migrants,” and create a legislative fix that removes bureaucratic hurdles from those seeking to immigrate legally. 

“There has to be a better way between the system we have now and a completely open border where we don’t even know who’s coming through,” she said. “Most Republicans want to talk about this in terms of, how do we make this system work for people who want to legitimately better themselves, who fear for their safety in their home countries?” 

Valdes’s contention that his views on immigration are more moderate than Trump’s does not convince Menendez, who said Republicans may publicly stray from Trump’s more hard-line immigration stances in a state like New Jersey — which hasn’t voted for a Republican presidential candidate since 1988 — but they still support a White House hopeful who is seeking to deport millions of people. 

“That’s that election posturing, when we all know that sending another Republican down to Washington will be a ‘yes’ vote for every damn awful policy of the Republican Party and Trump administration, so let’s not lose sight of that,” Menendez said. 

‘Morally wrong’

Menendez’s thoughts aside, immigration advocates worry that Democrats by and large aren’t doing enough to oppose the Republican narrative on this issue.

Vice President Kamala Harris, the Democratic nominee for president, has said if elected president she would “hire thousands more border agents and crack down on fentanyl and human trafficking.” 

“There hasn’t been much conversation around any other significant pieces of legislation that would fix the broken immigration system,” Morales said.

Recent polling from the American Civil Liberties Union found that voters in key battlegrounds nationwide prefer an immigration policy that would manage the border and provide a road to citizenship for long-time residents, rather than “fear-based policies.” The polling included voters in New Jersey’s 7th District, one of the nation’s most competitive, where Democrat Sue Altman will face incumbent Tom Kean Jr., who was elected in 2022. 

Neither candidate was available to comment for this story. 

In the 7th, 66% of voters said the United States “needs a balanced approach to immigration that addresses the challenges at the border and includes a pathway to citizenship for Dreamers and other long-time residents,” while 31% said it is “too dangerous to open up our country to more people from other countries.”

“The key to success in 2024’s electoral battlegrounds lies in presenting innovative, solution-focused approaches to immigration and public safety,” the ACLU’s report says.

Julie Flores-Castillo, an immigrant advocate from Red Bank and a local Democratic Party official, comes from a mixed-status family and has undocumented family members. She said there’s more fear in the community because the messaging coming from politicians on both sides isn’t humane. 

She noted the emphasis on detaining undocumented immigrants. A 2021 New Jersey law bars public and private entities from entering into contracts to house immigrant detainees, but the law has been deemed partially unconstitutional by a federal judge. While the law is being challenged in court, private prison company GEO Group seeks to sign a contract with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement to house detainees at Delaney Hall, a facility near the Essex County jail in Newark.

“I don’t see that being discussed at all here, and it’s creating more fear,” Flores-Castillo said. “We don’t want any more detention centers opening here, but I don’t see candidates calling for it not to happen.”

Menendez, who along with his Democratic colleagues in the House has been outspoken on closing detention centers in New Jersey, said he plans to fight immigrant detention more if he wins another term in Congress. He said it’s a reflection of the broken system and echoed that Democrats should strive to present larger measures to fix immigration. 

“Just because we haven’t come up with a holistic fix doesn’t mean we should allow these things to continue to exist when they do harm to our communities,” Menendez said. “I’ll never shy away from saying that because we know it’s morally wrong to rip people away from their families.”