To the best of my knowledge, the municipal-level campaign to persuade the New Jersey state legislature to pass the Immigrant Trust Act started last December in Madison, New Jersey, an affluent college town in a relatively conservative part of the state. By March, about a dozen municipalities had followed suit. 

Things quieted down in the months after that, but with the impetus of a constant drumbeat of ICE raids, things started up again in June with the campaign for a resolution in Princeton, which eventually passed in August. Whether it’s correlation or causality or both, the movement has heated up since then and gone statewide. About twenty municipalities and two counties have at this point passed pro-ITA resolutions, and plenty of county commissions and town councils across the state are facing demands to pass more.

How much traction do the activists have? The truth lies somewhere between two facts: On the one hand, no one could plausibly say that the “resolution movement” is a household word, but on the other, no one who pays attention to local or regional news could possibly have missed it. Certainly no local or regional official could have missed it. This piece in The Daily Princetonian, this one in New Jersey Monitor, and this one in New Brunswick Today all capture the general climate of opinion: people are fed up with ICE, they’re seeking new protections for migrants, they’re demanding resolutions, and their demands are being heard. Officials who claim not to know what it’s all about are being disingenuous. You can’t read the local papers in New Jersey and miss the pro-ITA movement– unless you work at it.

When I was in Cranbury last week, I was pleased to encounter groups of retirees–people in their 70s and 80s–who’d made it their business to attend a different council or commission every day, driving each night from venue to venue to speak out in favor of a given ITA resolution–the Phish or Grateful Dead fans of migrant defense. The energy and dedication is something to see, but even better, something to be part of. 

A list of forthcoming efforts gives a sense of the energy involved: 

1. Tonight (Tuesday the 21st), Resistencia en Acción will be converging on the City Council in Trenton to demand the local police department’s adherence to the Immigrant Trust Directive. I’m hoping to post some of their statements here in the next week or so.
2. Also tonight, a group of activists is speaking in favor of a pro-ITA resolution at the Town Councils of both Montclair and Highland Park (ICE Out of Montclair and DIRE, respectively).
3. On Wednesday the 22nd, another overlapping group of activists (many associated with the Lily Benavides campaign) is addressing the town council of Perth Amboy.
4. On Thursday, some of us will be making our case before the Union County Board of County Commissioners in Elizabeth. 
5. On Monday, I’m hoping to speak before the Town Council of West Windsor, and hoping to induce some friends to join me.
6. Those of us who spoke before the Middlesex County Commission the other day will be following up to ensure that we get some uptake from the Commission.
7. Finally, Princeton Alumni for Palestine is planning a border justice event at Princeton University on Wednesday, November 19, 5 pm, focusing on the connections between border justice in the Americas and in Palestine. More on that in the weeks to come. 

Some progress: I understand that our recent efforts at a pro-ITA resolution in Cranbury have been successful: though skeptical at first, the Cranbury Town Council listened to our statements and changed its mind on the idea of an ITA resolution. I’m guessing one will be passed there soon. Something similar appears to be happening in New Brunswick. From New Brunswick Today: “Under pressure from activists, the City Council will consider a resolution regarding proposed state legislation known as the Immigrant Trust Act.” Let’s hope they do more than consider it. 

Whether any of this will move the legislature remains to be seen, but sometimes, the effort is its own victory. In any case, no one can tell us that activism is pointless, futile, easy, or merely expressive. Progress is made one step at a time, and we’ve made some.

Thanks to Dawn Cohen, Asma Elhuni, Susan Gordon, Catherine Hunt, Sadaf Jafar, Hilary Persky, and the folks at PA4P for keeping me up to date.