New Jersey is a place of determined hearts and daring minds, community sports, volunteer emergency services, and cutting-edge research. In small towns and big cities, rooted communities are constantly refreshed and inspire locals to explore our world and beyond. Freedom is something we live and reclaim every day.
You do not have to agree on all the details of life and politics to recognize that a community of varied minds and voices is also a team. Important mistakes will be made; there will be injustices, but we can correct them and set a better course, if we work together.
That is the small-town civic spirit I learned growing up, and it is the implicit mutual commitment among neighbors that made it possible for Minnesotans to see violent injustice and respond with kindness, spontaneous organization, prayer, and charity.
New Jersey is small but mighty, and defends its open spaces and beautiful landscapes with devotion. Despite being the most densely populated state, with major industrial areas, New Jersey has protected forests, productive farms, historic wooded hill country, wetlands, and wildlife sanctuaries.
We have a sense of the limitless, as we look out over the silver-blue Atlantic, move between great Gotham and barrier islands secured by ecosystems of dune, swale, and coastal pines where intercontinental osprey make seasonal homes.
In the Garden State, you can feel the somber echo of Washington’s army crossing the Delaware to risk everything to say NO to empire; we don’t talk about this regularly, but the spirit of that night feels, somehow, like home. You can feel underfoot the soft, distant thunder of the Battle of Monmouth, while Freehold’s favorite son sings “No Surrender” with soulful defiance.
That all are created equal is not a hope; it is the North Star.
The 5th Amendment says:
“No person shall be… deprived of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law…”
Those words activate the Declaration of Independence, ensuring that human rights are universal and unalienable in principle and in practice, as our founding demanded.
‘Unalienable’ means no human being can be separated from their humanity, or from their human rights.
The 6th Amendment prohibits extrajudicial transfers to prisons out of state, and guarantees the right to have witnesses in one’s defense.
The 1st Amendment protects five foundational freedoms—faith, speech, information gathering and reporting, peaceable assembly, and the universal right to pursue legal redress—which are all forms of witness.
It is unlawful to arbitrarily detain anyone, to imprison anyone without judicial due process, or to punish or intimidate anyone for being a witness or for having evidence in their possession.
The office of citizen is the foundation of the republic; our core duty is witness, which is integral to our civic authority as free human beings to speak, organize, form local governments, and defend each other’s right to remain free from violence and oppression.
These fundamental rights are guaranteed by the Constitution and the Bill of Rights to every human being in every circumstance where the government seeks to assert jurisdiction.
Any other claim is nonsense. New Jersey says NO to nonsense.
- We need light? We invent electric light.
- We need to track enemy aircraft? We create radar.
- We need to track the world’s first weather satellites, to make sure every town has more safety? We build the dish and pull in the data.
We cannot defend freedom and uphold fundamental rights if we accept the nonsense claim that human rights can be made selective or conditional (‘alienable’). The founding purpose of the United States is to ensure that human rights are never selective or conditional, that the sovereignty of free human beings never be abridged.
We are free together, every human being in our country and in our communities, or we are not free.
We have a duty to our fellow Americans, to each other, to those that have sacrificed to keep us free, and to those who will come after, to recognize the stunning example of cooperative human decency with which the people of Minnesota responded.
We can all be such citizens and neighbors; we can all do something to make the fabric of community stronger when outside forces want us to fear each other.
The forces of violent indecency have now come to New Jersey. They have begun assaulting and abducting people guilty of no crime who have faithfully followed the legal process for immigration and naturalization. These attacks break up families and create an atmosphere of menace. It is unacceptable for children to have to fear the end of their family or the elimination of their rights, when they wait for the school bus, see a doctor, or buy groceries.
- Such cruelty is prohibited by the Bill of Rights.
- The Declaration of Independence lists opposing immigration and naturalization as a crime committed by the Kind of England against the people of the United States.
- Article I, Section 8 of the Constitution, requires the US government provide a legal process for immigration and naturalization.
- The 5th Amendment, the 6th Amendment, the 14th Amendment, and others, make no distinction between citizens and non-citizens. All rights are sacrosanct.
No-nonsense means working for the best of all possible worlds. It makes no sense to intentionally aim for less. Cynicism and suspicion, isolation and dehumanization, these are the tools of tyrants and gangsters; they do nothing to protect our humanity, our rights, or our freedom.
No-nonsense means: No cruelty; no extrajudicial or unlawful action by government, ever; no violence and no retaliation. It means: Use reason; work with facts; care for others; solidarity with those less fortunate is what keeps all of us free.
We need an informal alliance of good-hearted people loyal to the rights and liberties of all. This citizen movement to rescue our republic should honor the core values of humanity, universal rights, mutual aid, civic cooperation, and nonviolence.
Ronald Reagan said Americans enjoy and embody “a bounty of the spirit” that welcomes newcomers, especially those fleeing persecution and violence. Let’s exercise our freedom by showing decency to those at risk and by solving problems without ideology, to advance our collective wellbeing and ensure this remains a free country for all future generations, as the Constitution requires.
Legal RESOURCES
The State of New Jersey has created a Know Your Rights Information Hub, for individuals, businesses, schools, and others who are responsible for protecting children from violence or rights abuses.
It is important to understand what is and what is not lawful behavior, given the many documented examples of federal agents violating fundamental rights, the Constitution, or other federal and state laws. It is also important to understand how to remain safe if such a violation occurs.
The State of New Jersey also encourages people to report ICE activity, especially where it appears violent force was used or fundamental rights may have been violated.
Pro-bono legal services are also available. This is an important service for people who may not otherwise have access to legal counsel, especially to those being detained in spite of having followed all appropriate steps in the legal process.
The New Jersey Alliance for Immigrant Justice (NJAIJ) maintains a Resource Hub that includes Know Your Rights training materials, advice for parents, Newark Community Resources, and advocacy training.
The American Immigration Council provides a detailed review of how ICE and Border Patrol operations have come to ignore fundamental human rights protected by the Constitution.
It is best to seek legal advice or work with trained, experienced advocates and organizations, to make sure you know both what the law says and also how to stay safe if federal agents are violating rights and legal protections.
The Right to Bear Witness
It is lawful to observe and to record activities of federal agents, so long as the observer is not physically threatening or interfering with the agents.
The American Constitution Society reports:
As federal courts have routinely recognized, individuals possess a First Amendment right to observe and record law enforcement officers in public space performing their public functions. Such recording serves multiple First Amendment interests.
First, recording is protected information gathering on government operations, enabling viewers to make more informed decisions about policies under our democratic system.
Second, it can facilitate future speech by the recorder including subsequent dissemination and broadcast of the recording to others.
Third, it enriches the marketplace of ideas, providing diverse perspectives (often in contrast to the distinct physical perspectives provided by law enforcement surveillance recordings and misleading public statements made by government agencies about their actions).
Fourth, it acts as a direct, in the moment statement of resistance against the recorded activity, helping to ensure government accountability.
Fifth, recording can help reclaim the public square for the people—public space that has historically been the cornerstone of First Amendment dialogue and that has been made perilous by law enforcement actions, particularly for marginalized communities.
Mutual Aid & Volunteer Support
We will share oppportunities to fund or volunteer to support mutual aid and other charitable services for those affected by immigration enforcement operations, including citizens who are affected through family, or through impacts on their schools, businesses, or community. This list is not comprehensive and will evolve over time.
The following are platforms that provide references and links to support networks:
- Immigration and Mutual Aid Resources from Win without War
- First Friends of New York and New Jersey – aid to immigrants detained or facing deportation
- Testimony & Examples of Leadership from Minnesota
The Faithful Citizen 