New Jersey Gov. Mikie Sherrill on June 4 announced a $12 million increase to the state’s fund for immigrant legal defense and a new effort to recruit volunteer attorneys, steps her administration framed as protecting due process amid federal immigration enforcement.
The money raises the state’s Detention Deportation Defense Initiative to $20.2 million, which the state said would double its services and cover all low-income detainees at Delaney Hall in Newark. A separate program will train volunteer lawyers to take on emergency cases challenging detentions in federal court.
Sherrill, a Democrat, said detainees deserve “access to due process and a fair hearing under the law, regardless of where you were born.” Legal representation “has never been more important,” she said, “as the Trump Administration makes it more difficult for members of our community to challenge detention and deportation.”…