Category Archives: migrant defense

Yes, West Orange, This Is Your Business

Posted on by under activism, migrant defense

I was pleased to see that my statement on the Immigrant Trust Act to the West Orange Town Council got headline treatment in TapInto West Orange. The reporter summarizes my statement, and then quotes Council member Joyce Rudin as favoring passage of a pro-ITA resolution:

[Regarding] the Immigrant Trust Act, I frankly, don’t know why we don’t pass a resolution. It’s been done all over the country. I don’t see how it would hurt us to offer protection, to make a statement as a community, in terms of providing protection to our immigrant community.

I’m gratified to hear that, and hope that Rudin can prevail on others, including incoming Council member Tammy Williams, to pass a resolution. Continue reading →

The Immigrant Trust Tour: West Orange (v2)

Posted on by under activism, migrant defense, Neutrality and Complicity

Here’s the version of the statement I gave at West Orange Town Council tonight. I posted a different version here a few days ago, but found that I had to pare it down to make it fit the five minute time limit. Though the Council responded to public comments, they made no attempt to respond to mine. (Correction: I must have left too early to hear it, but Council member Joyce Rudin responded positively to my statement.)

Hi, my name is Irfan Khawaja. I’m here to speak in support of your passing a resolution in favor of the Immigrant Trust Act. I know that West Orange has previously discussed and rejected a resolution, but I don’t find your reasons convincing.  Continue reading →

The Immigrant Trust Tour: Lawrence Township

Posted on by under activism, anarchism, migrant defense, pedagogy

Last night was Clifton; tonight was Lawrence Township. The statement I gave in Lawrence was essentially the same as the one I gave in Clifton, so I won’t reproduce it. Just a few thoughts and some pictures tonight.

I was gratified at how receptive Lawrence Township was to us. They not only put us on the agenda, but gave us a dedicated spot at the beginning. About a dozen people spoke in defense of the ITA, for about an hour. Lots of activists from Resistencia; one activist from Latino Action Network; and one woman from the Progressive Caucus of the Democratic Party of Monmouth County, a MAGA stronghold more than an hour away. Continue reading →

Thoughts on a Self-Deportation

Posted on by under migrant defense, slices of life

I was at a self-deportation the other day. Someone who’d been in this country for decades decided it was time to leave, even at the price of breaking up the family. So, surrounded by friends and family, they did.

I’m not sure what verb to use for my presence at this scene. I was present, but not wholly present, engaged, but not fully engaged. I had things to do that day, and couldn’t afford the luxury of wholehearted empathy or grief. Did I observe? Bear witness? Psychologically flee the scene? A little bit of all of the above.

The English language lacks a word for the act of observing, but deliberately holding oneself aloof from, another person’s misfortune. It’s too bad, because self-deportation and family dissolution are quickly becoming commonplaces. We can’t be fully present for all of them. So the word we lack is a word we need.

The Trenton Campaign: No Collaboration with ICE

Posted on by under activism, migrant defense

Statement of Farahnaz Shemeem to Trenton City Council
319 E. State St.
Trenton, New Jersey
October 21, 2025

Hello, good evening, Council; my name is Farahnaz, [Trenton address]. I’m a Rapid Responder with Resistencia en Acción, an organization that supports families impacted by ICE operations. I’m here today to share what I’ve personally witnessed and to call your attention to what is happening in our city.

As someone who has grown up in Trenton, it is deeply painful to see the Trenton Police assisting ICE agents–agents who are breaking our laws, violating their own policies, and lying to families to get them out of their homes and cars. Instead of protecting the community, our officers are enabling ICE to terrorize our neighborhoods and enter spaces where they have no legal authority to be. The Trenton Police has been assisting ICE agents in creating intimidation which prevents people from exercising their constitutional rights, the right to remain in their private spaces, to record ICE, and to inform others of their rights. Continue reading →

The Immigrant Trust Tour: West Windsor

Posted on by under activism, migrant defense

I spoke before the West Windsor Town Council this evening, defending the idea of a pro-ITA municipal resolution there modeled on the one we have in Princeton. I was very pleased to learn that Councilman Dan Weiss had already written in favor of the Immigrant Trust Act; he expressed enthusiastic support for a municipal resolution at the meeting as well. My hope is to re-visit the issue with the council after the election with some West Windsorites in tow. Here’s the text of the statement I gave. Continue reading →

The Immigrant Trust Tour: 9-0 Win in Union County

Posted on by under activism, migrant defense

Well readers, we did it. The Union County Board of County Commissioners voted 9-0 tonight to adopt Resolution 2025-796:

Supporting the Wind of the Spirit Immigrant Resource Center’s efforts, and encouraging the New Jersey Legislature to pass Senate Bill 3672 and Assembly Bill A4987, which establishes protections for immigrants interacting with government agencies, and designates the “New Jersey Immigrant Trust Act.”

The resolution was co-sponsored by Commissioner Sergio Granados and Chairwoman Lourdes M. Leon, and supported by the entire Board. The Board passed the resolution, offered words of support for migrant rights generally, praised our efforts, and promised to transmit the text of the resolution to the other twenty county governments in New Jersey–two of whom, Essex and Hudson, have already adopted resolutions. Union County makes three, with eighteen more to go.

Continue reading →

The Immigrant Trust Tour: Elizabeth

Posted on by under activism, migrant defense

Statement to the Union County Board of County Commissioners
12 Elizabethtown Plaza
Elizabeth, New Jersey
October 23, 2025

Hi, my name is Irfan Khawaja; I live in Princeton. As some of you may remember, I spoke here previously on the matter of the Union County jail. Those of us involved in that effort were pleased to see the Commission conclude this past July that detention-related uses of the jail were “off the table” because they “would not align with Union County’s values.”  

Given the troubling reports we’ve seen nationwide about ICE detaining not only individuals with criminal charges, but also everyday people simply trying to build better lives, we cannot support any outcome that risks putting people in jeopardy.

Continue reading →