Statement to the Middlesex County Board of Commissioners
75 Bayard St.
New Brunswick, New Jersey
October 16, 2025
Hi. My name is Irfan Khawaja. I live in Princeton, but work in Iselin, and spend most of my waking hours in Middlesex County. I’m here to urge you to join Essex and Hudson counties, plus a couple dozen municipalities, in passing a resolution in favor of the Immigrant Trust Act. Continue reading
Donald Trump, on the disarmament of Hamas:
They’re going to disarm because they said they were going to disarm. If they don’t disarm, we will disarm them.
Asked how he will do that, Trump responded:
I don’t have to explain that to you. And I spoke to Hamas, and they said, “Yes, sir, we’re going to disarm.”
Cranbury Township Committee
23 N. Main St.
Cranbury, New Jersey
October 13, 2025
Hi. My name is Irfan Khawaja. I live in Princeton, and I’d like to urge the Cranbury Township Committee to pass a resolution in favor of the Immigrant Trust Act like the one we have in Princeton.
It’s no secret that Cranbury has lots of warehouses and thousands of square feet of warehouse space. I myself used to do data entry work at the old Lenox China facility nearby. Continue reading
Peace and Justice in Swarthmore
I’m at the Peace and Justice Studies Association (PJSA) conference at Swarthmore College in Pennsylvania. Having a great time. Wish you were here.
Swarthmore is practically a caricature of an old school liberal arts college, half institution of higher education, half feudal estate. It’s hard not to love, but then, I myself am half academic and half landlord–an erstwhile academic with a last name that means “landlord.” So it’s easy enough for me to fantasize having a tenure-stream job here, taking sanctuary from the world amidst the ivy, the wildflowers, the curious, well-heeled students, and the crenellated towers of stone. I didn’t see any administrators, either. Maybe there aren’t any? Continue reading
I wake up. First thing I do: I look at my phone, and click on Radio Jornalera, the online workers’ radio station of Resistencia en Accion. Que pasa? What’s going on? ICE is once again in Trenton, masked and armed, as they’ve been every other day recently. But Resistencia’s Rapid Response team is there, too, demanding that ICE identify themselves, filming them, and taking down their license plates and badge numbers.
Continue readingAetna, after telling the patient that her medical necessity claim for hypoxia has been denied without further appeal, that the appeals process is over, that they’re just not feeling the medical necessity involved, and that the unpaid balance of $10,000 is not their problem:
Notes on Migrant Defense Work in New Jersey
When Resistencia en Acción started its campaign for a municipal resolution in favor of the ITA back in June, we were hoping not only to pass a pro-ITA resolution in Princeton, but to re-ignite what had begun as a statewide movement in favor of such resolutions. At least a dozen municipalities had passed pro-ITA resolutions before Princeton did, and I’m happy to say that a statewide pro-ITA movement has in fact taken off in New Jersey since late summer. Continue reading
I’m not one to give anyone specifically military advice, and I have neither the time nor the inclination to comment on the fraud of Trump’s Gaza peace plan. Only one thing really needs to be said, and said at top volume: under no circumstances should any Palestinian militant group disarm for anyone or anything. That goes for Hamas, Islamic Jihad, the PFLP, the Lion’s Den, and anyone else with a weapon and the will to use it. Do not disarm. Do NOT disarm. To disarm is to commit mass suicide by placing yourself in the hands of confirmed liars and psychopaths. Things are bad, but nothing could be worse than that.
Continue readingA quick announcement of two talks I’m doing in the near future, both on health care. The first is called “Patient, Defend Thyself: Insurance Denials and the Resort to Force,” at the annual meeting of the Peace and Justice Studies Association (PJSA), Saturday, Oct. 11 at Swarthmore College. The second is a brief, untitled contribution to an Ethics Roundtable on access to health care, co-sponsored by the Association of Practical and Professional Ethics (APPE) and Felician University, Wednesday, Nov. 5, 1-2 pm on Zoom. The PJSA talk is on-ground and only open to registered conference attendees; the APPE/Felician talk is fully online and open to the public. Continue reading
“Is there anyone for whom we’re saying kaddish tonight?” the rabbi asks the congregation.
Yes, I think to myself. More than one. But in another way, for no one. No one can say kaddish for so many.
Policy of Truth 