Tag Archives: news

Localize the Intifada

Posted on by under activism, migrant defense

The Use of Lethal Force in Self-Defense Against Federal Law Enforcement

I’m gratified to see that there’s been some explicit discussion in the last few weeks of a neglected topic that I mentioned in my post on Renee Good: do residents of the United States (citizens or otherwise) have a moral or legal right (however narrow, contextual, or limited) to use lethal force against federal law enforcement officers when those officers initiate force that endangers the life or limb of an innocent party? The answer is yes on both counts.  Just to be explicit: residents unquestionably have a right to kill federal law enforcement officers under certain conditions. The relevant question is not whether there is such a right, but the exact conditions under which it can legitimately be exercised.

Continue reading →

Statement of Sadaf Jaffer to Montgomery Township Committee

Posted on by under activism, Neutrality and Complicity, Notes on the Anti-War Movement, Palestine

This is a statement by Sadaf Jaffer, former Mayor of Montgomery Township, New Jersey, to the Montgomery Township Committee. I fully agree with her that “the public deserves clear answers and ethical leadership,” and urge others who agree to contact the Committee and make your views known. I’m pleased to say that Sadaf has agreed to be featured in a future edition of my Activist Interviews series, where I’m sure we’ll hear more about the backstory here. More soon.

Good evening. I am a former mayor of Montgomery Township, a former Assemblywoman, and a former chair of Montgomery’s Democratic Organization.

On multiple occasions over the past year, Mayor Neena Singh and Deputy Mayor Vince Barragan told me, and told others, that Montgomery Township was being denied county and state public funds because of my opposition to Israeli and U.S. policy in Gaza. Continue reading →

An Open Question for Middlesex County

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

Third Statement to Middlesex County Board of County Commissioners
75 Bayard St
New Brunswick, New Jersey
January 15, 2026

My name is Irfan Khawaja. I live in Princeton but work in Iselin. This is my third statement here on the matter of what was previously called the Immigrant Trust Act. As everyone knows, we’re in the home stretch toward passage of a version of the Act, but not there yet. To that end, I want to address some issues raised by the last meeting on that topic back on December 18. Continue reading →

The Immigrant Trust Tour: The Finale

Posted on by under activism, migrant defense

Since I last wrote on the subject, New Jersey’s Immigrant Trust Act (ITA) has been divided into three separate bills, has gotten through a series of committee hearings, and is up for vote in the state legislature on Monday. It’s been sixteen solid months of efforts by a cohort of smart, tough, and dedicated activists. Win or lose, I’m proud to have played a bit part in this effort, and at this point can only urge New Jersey residents to call or text their legislators for the final push (see contact information below). Continue reading →

The Immigrant Trust Tour: West Orange Yet Again

Posted on by under activism, migrant defense

I’ve been pleased to see that my blog posts here have generated a bit of press coverage in favor of an Immigrant Trust Act (ITA) resolution in West Orange. This piece, in the November 20 issue of TapInto West Orange, covered my initial statement to West Orange Town Council. This one, in the December 23 issue of The West Orange Dispatch, essentially brings things up to date. Continue reading →

The Immigrant Trust Tour: Clifton

Posted on by under Uncategorized

I spoke tonight at Clifton City Council in Passaic County, north Jersey. Thanks to Jeff Hoey for the invitation to speak, and to both Jeff and the folks at the Palestinian-American Community Center of Clifton for the camaraderie. There was a rather different atmosphere in Clifton than, say, Princeton, West Windsor, or Cranbury–a circus atmosphere, at times. “Viewpoint diversity,” I think the savants call it.

A couple of members of the public expressed the widely-held view that while their ancestors came here legally, they have no sympathy for those who’ve come illegally. “Illegals,” on this view, deserve whatever anyone, including ICE, dishes out to them, including indefinite detention, deportation, impoverishment, expropriation, family dissolution, and premature death. Continue reading →

Character-Based Voting: Mamdani, Cuomo, Sliwa

Posted on by under character based voting

For years now, I’ve been railing against an argument of Jason Brennan’s concerning character-based voting. Brennan’s argument holds that when it comes to voting, unless a candidate’s character can be shown to be a proxy for the policies he’ll adopt, predictions about those policies should trump judgments about character. In other words, when it comes to voting, the policies you predict that a candidate will adopt are more important than any character-based fact or set of facts about his fitness for office right now.  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 Trenton Campaign: No Collaboration with ICE

Posted on by under activism, migrant defense

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

Like so many here, I have watched the Trenton Police, during an ICE raid in August, establish a perimeter around ICE agents. We’re told this was to maintain public safety, because ICE had a battering ram, but no warrant, ready to break in–with no warrant. And a police perimeter. Continue reading →

The Immigrant Trust Tour: October Update

Posted on by under activism, migrant defense, Neutrality and Complicity, Notes on the Anti-War Movement, Palestine

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. Continue reading →