Immigrants make our country more vibrant and stronger. The United States would not be the country it is without immigrant communities and nor would New Jersey.
First launched in 2004 in New York City, Immigrant Heritage Week is a week-long celebration commemorating April 17, 1907: the day on which the largest number of immigrants – 11,000 – entered the United States through Ellis Island.
This year, the 22nd annual Immigrant Heritage Week takes place from April 13, 2026, to April 19, 2026, in celebration of the invaluable contributions immigrants have made to our economy, culture, and country.
For the more than four hundred years since the arrival of Juan Rodriguez, the first immigrant to enter through Ellis Island, the United States has continued to be a country of opportunity, resilience, and multiculturalism, shaped by an ethos of diversity and freedom.
But today in America, the Trump administration’s morally repugnant and, oftentimes, unlawful immigration policies and rhetoric are actively harming our families, friends, and neighbors – separating people from their families, violating their constitutional rights, spurring fear, and creating less safe communities for everyone.
Here in New Jersey, Delaney Hall, one of the largest detention facilities on the East Coast, opened in Newark, which multiplied the detention capacity in New Jersey four times over. The U.S. Department of Homeland Security has also purchased a warehouse in Roxbury, NJ as the site for another detention center and is currently exploring detaining people at Fort Dix and another facility in Trenton.
Yet amid the Trump administration’s cruelty and inhumanity, New Jerseyans have remained firm in their demands that Delaney Hall and all immigration detention facilities must be closed and no new facilities are opened to safeguard New Jersey families and communities across the country.
To protect and foster the continuation of generational wisdom and connection, which is the essence of heritage, we must create a welcoming, safe, and empowering future for everyone who lives in New Jersey and across the United States.
The ACLU of New Jersey is urging Gov. Sherrill and the Legislature to allocate more resources in the FY27 budget for the Detention and Deportation Defense Initiative (DDDI), which provides much-needed legal representation to hundreds of low-income detained people who are routinely denied access to due process within the federal immigration system. At current funding levels – and given the quadrupling of detention capacity in New Jersey – DDDI is only able to offer full representation to 18 percent of those seeking assistance.
A state’s budget reflects its values and priorities, and New Jerseyans want more protections and support for immigrant communities. Gov. Sherrill and the Legislature must increase funding in the FY27 budget for DDDI to meet the increased demand for and cost of legal services, and to work toward true equity and justice for all people who live in New Jersey.
Throughout Immigrant Heritage Week, and every week, we celebrate the courage, resilience, contributions, and lives of immigrant communities across the country and call for expanded protections for immigrants. Every person in the United States deserves to live with safety, opportunity, and freedom in the place they call home – and together, we can make this vision a reality.
Have you witnessed unlawful conduct by Immigration and Customs Enforcement? We want to know about it. Use our form to report unlawful conduct by federal immigration agents in New Jersey.