Statement of Sadaf Jaffer in support of a municipal resolution supporting the Immigrant Trust Act, Montgomery (NJ) Town Council, Sept. 4. 

Good evening,

As a former mayor and state legislator, I urge you to pass a resolution supporting the Immigrant Trust Act and to do everything in your power to ensure that our state assemblymembers Roy Freiman and Mitchelle Drulis cosponsor it as well.

As this is the first year you are serving in elected office under a Trump administration, let me emphasize: this is not the time for cowardice. When authoritarianism is on the rise at the federal level, local government is our last line of defense. This is the time to use the authority the public has invested in you to protect us from harm.

Montgomery was the first town in New Jersey to pass a bipartisan resolution against family separation and immigrant detention in 2019. That resolution became a model for countless other towns that followed. Supporting the Immigrant Trust Act affirms those same values and reinforces what makes Montgomery a strong, vibrant community.

Representation means nothing if those in office do not safeguard the interests of the people they claim to represent. I would ask the mayor, who often touts her Indian heritage, to keep in mind that there are more than 700,000 undocumented Indians in the United States. Do something to protect them and others.

It is unacceptable that we had to learn from a GoFundMe request that ICE conducted an operation here in Montgomery and detained a 20-year resident. The mayor should be communicating these threats directly to the public. Silence breeds fear. Leadership requires transparency. If residents lose trust in elected officials in this time of crisis, the damage to our community will be profound.

At a time when so many in our immigrant-heavy community feel uncertain and vulnerable, your public support for the Immigrant Trust Act will make clear that you are committed to protecting safety, dignity, and fairness for all. We are in a crisis. Our neighbors are being torn from their families, detained, and sent to uncertain futures.

Do the right thing. Stand with our immigrant neighbors.

Thank you.