Our democracy is under attack. The second Trump administration has not just picked up where it left off – it is moving with greater speed, more aggression, and fewer constraints.
It has weaponized the full force of the federal government to go after its so-called political enemies. It has militarized our cities and promised more. It has attacked immigrant communities and those who stand in solidarity with them. It has gone after judges and arrested lawmakers and civilians who dare to disagree. It has upended our system of checks and balances. It has targeted universities, law firms, nonprofits, the media, corporations, and every institution that has something to say about justice, equality, and the rule of law.
Even amid this onslaught of attacks on our democracy, New Jersey has shown that it is possible to achieve meaningful progress in the face of national challenges. Just last month, Gov. Sherrill signed the John R. Lewis Voter Empowerment Act of New Jersey into law, a state-level Voting Rights Act that will protect and expand access to voting in the Garden State. And in March, Gov. Sherrill also signed a package of critical immigrant protection bills, codifying long overdue protections for immigrant communities in New Jersey.
Yet these wins do not lessen the ongoing terror and trauma the Trump administration is waging on communities across the country. And right now, we are seeing these impacts starkly through the lawless operations of its detention and deportation machine.
At Delaney Hall, an immigration detention facility in Newark, people are being denied life-sustaining medication, and repeated reports of serious medical neglect have been ignored. There have been numerous accounts of inedible food, unsanitary conditions, and abuse. Visitation policies are strictly limited and enforced arbitrarily. We know of three individuals who have died: Jean Wilson Brutus, Edwin Jovanny Lopez Cornejo, and Jose Chajon-Raxon.
When the injustices compounded earlier this summer, hundreds of detained individuals banded together to engage in a hunger and labor strike to call attention to these inhumane conditions. They were met with retaliation and abuse from ICE.
These realities are devastating for families, communities, and anyone who believes in the democratic principles our country was founded upon. The Trump administration is threatening years of hard-fought civil liberty protections through its attacks on due process and human rights. And when the government has the power to deny the rights and freedoms of one vulnerable group, everyone’s rights and freedoms are at risk.
At the ACLU of New Jersey, we will continue to hold the Trump administration accountable and defend the rights of all people in New Jersey. It’s what we do, and what we will keep doing. But we cannot do it alone.
This fight for our freedom requires all of us. We need advocates, educators, organizers, and storytellers. We need academia, philanthropists, industry leaders, and the media – we need every institution and everyday people. People who don’t just talk about justice, but who fight for it. People who don’t sit on the sidelines while families are being torn apart, while books are being banned, while nurses are being attacked by federal agents, and while communities are being disappeared.
Democracy does not defend itself. It relies on all of us.