Gov. Phil Murphy sparked outrage after seeming to suggest he was housing an undocumented immigrant at his home in Middletown. His comment came at a forum at the weekend.
“Tammy and I were talking about — I don’t want to get into too much detail, but there’s someone in our broader universe whose immigration status is not yet at the point they are trying to get it to. And we said: You know what? Let’s have her live above our house, above our garage. And good luck to the feds coming in to try to get her,” Murphy said.
Conservative media outlets and officials pounced on the comments, criticizing Murphy.
“The governor thinks he’s above the law,” Assemblyman Erik Peterson (R-Hunterdon) told InsiderNJ. “Instead of enforcing our duly enacted laws, he’s breaking them and telling others to do the same. It’s outrageous.”
But a spokesperson for the governor’s office said the remarks were misinterpreted — the Murphys never asked the woman to move in, adding she’s in the U.S. legally but was worried about her future.
The Trump administration has vowed mass deportations of undocumented immigrants and threatened to punish officials who interfere. Trump’s border czar, Tom Homan, on Monday night said he would “seek prosecution” if Murphy was sheltering an undocumented immigrant.
