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A state legislative panel advanced a bill Thursday to bar new contracts to house federal immigrant detainees in New Jersey, a step toward ending the practice that has sparked years of protests by immigration advocates.
The bill, sponsored by state Senators Loretta Weinberg of Teaneck and Nia H. Gill of Montclair, passed by a party-line vote, with four Democrats on the Law and Public Safety Committee supporting it and two Republicans opposed.
“The Garden State has long been a landing spot for new immigrants, and it is time we started living up to our values, Weinberg said in a statement. This bill, hopefully, will be part of a new foundation that will add a needed dose of humanity to our immigration policies.
NJ ICE contracts bill for immigrants moves forward in legislature njherald.com - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from njherald.com Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
Immigrants without legal status in New Jersey will have to wait longer to apply for a new state driver s license that was supposed to launch in January, state motor vehicle officials announced Monday.
The delay was blamed on the coronavirus pandemic, which has forced the closure of Motor Vehicle Commission agencies across the state and delayed the training needed to implement the licenses. The MVC did not say when the driver s licenses would be available.
“Status-neutral licensing is important for many New Jerseyans, but the demands on MVC due to COVID-19 have made it impossible for us to complete the training and software changes required to implement it,” Sue Fulton, chief administrator of the Motor Vehicle Commission, said in a statement.
NorthJersey.com
HACKENSACK As he peered through a small window inside his cell at the Bergen County Jail, José Suchite Salguero knew something was amiss.
Protesters had been gathering outside the River Street building nightly to support the Newark man and other immigrant detainees who had been on a hunger strike.
But on the evening of Dec. 12, the scene was different, more volatile. There were far more police than normal, many in riot gear. Suchite Salguero said he saw police cars and trucks parked in an adjacent lot, many from outside the city.
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He had planned to address demonstrators by phone, as in the past, to share the story of his 11 months of detention by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement and how desperately he wanted to be free. But as he waited to make the call, a confrontation erupted between police and protesters.