One national issue at the center of New Jersey’s gubernatorial primaries is immigration. And marked differences in their approach to the issue are especially apparent among the Republican candidates.
“We have 900,000 people who are here illegally and it’s an enormous drain on our law enforcement, our schools, our infrastructure, our schools, our hospitals,” says Republican candidate Bill Spadea.
The Pew Research Center puts the number of undocumented immigrants in New Jersey at closer to half that.
Fellow Republican candidate Sen. Jon Bramnick remains unabashedly moderate in his approach. “I believe there should be a path to citizenship,” Bramnick (R-Union) said recently. “I don’t believe that this is some crazy idea. We were close to that years ago. If someone’s been here 20 years, paid their taxes, why not set up a system.”
Democrats, who control the Legislature and governor’s office, have been rhetorically pro-immigrant rights. But with the entire Assembly up for election this fall, and Republicans having successfully turned the issue in their favor, the majority party has been slow to address immigration, most notably by not moving legislation — The Immigrant Trust Act — that discourages localities from cooperating with immigration enforcement actions.
Among the Democratic candidates for governor, Newark Mayor Ras Baraka warns against being tentative. “They want to remove everyone, and if you don’t understand that or are confused, then we have to make sure that everyone understands that we are all in danger,” Baraka has said.
Fellow candidate Steve Sweeney, the former Senate president, says efforts like the Immigrant Trust Directive sound good but, in the current environment, accomplish little.
“That Immigrant Trust Directive is not protecting. one person. All you’re doing is giving false hope to people that they are safe. They’re not safe, as long as we have a president that is violating the law, due process. That’s what separates New Jersey and this country from everywhere else.”
