Immigration, and the Trump administration’s handling of immigration enforcement specifically, was undoubtedly the topic of the week in Congress.
New Jersey Democrats are objecting to reported plans to build yet another immigrant detention center within the state; some of them have signed onto articles of impeachment against Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem; and there may be an effort to block new funding for the Department of Homeland Security as part of the annual appropriations process. Here’s some of what New Jersey’s members of Congress did in Washington this week.
What not to warehouse
A report in the Washington Post that DHS is looking into converting warehouses in Morris County’s Roxbury Township into an immigrant detention facility has caused a significant stir.
On Wednesday, all ten Democratic members of the state’s congressional delegation sent a letter to top DHS officials objecting to the reported proposal, saying that DHS needed to “immediately abandon” any plans to come to Roxbury. (Roxbury’s local GOP congressman, Tom Kean Jr., was not included on the letter and has so far declined to comment on the report.)
“Any expansion of immigrant detention in New Jersey, especially under warehouse conditions that are fundamentally inappropriate for human habitation, contradicts both the interests and values of our state,” states the letter, which was led by Reps. Rob Menendez (D-Jersey City), Bonnie Watson Coleman (D-Ewing), and LaMonica McIver (D-Newark).
Roxbury local officials, too, have reacted to the report with alarm; following local protests, the all-Republican township council passed a resolution opposing the placement of a detention facility in the town.
New Jersey is already home to two operational immigrant detention facilities, one in Newark and another in Elizabeth, and plans are underway to create more detention capacity at the Joint Base McGuire-Dix-Lakehurst military installation.
Noem more!
After a woman was shot and killed by an Immigration and Customs Enforcement agent in Minneapolis last week, calls to impeach or otherwise remove Secretary Noem have exploded among Democrats, and at least three of New Jersey’s Democratic House members are on board. Articles of impeachment were introduced by Illinois Rep. Robin Kelly earlier this week, with Reps. Menendez, Watson Coleman, and McIver all listed as co-sponsors.
“Every day that Secretary Noem remains in office is a day that communities across our country are unsafe and that Americans are at risk,” Menendez said. “We cannot allow this to continue. Since President Trump won’t remove Secretary Noem, I am supporting articles of impeachment.”
Plenty of other Democrats have also called for Noem to go, including for reasons beyond immigration; Reps. Frank Pallone (D-Long Branch) led a letter this week demanding that President Donald Trump remove Noem from office due to her “misguided leadership” of the Federal Emergency Management Agency, a call that Rep. Herb Conaway (D-Delran) signed onto as well.
“Kristi Noem has proven herself no better suited for a leadership role, and we urge you to immediately remove her and submit qualified nominees to lead DHS and FEMA to the Senate as soon as possible,” the letter states. “The American people deserve better.”
Freezing out ICE
Government funding bills continued to wend their way through Congress this week, lessening the prospect of another government shutdown at the end of the month. But not every New Jersey Democrat is on board: Senators Kim and Booker both voted against one appropriations package in the Senate, while Reps. McIver, Watson Coleman, and Menendez opposed another in the House.
And one of the bills that has yet to make it through either chamber of Congress, funding the DHS, could prove to be a particular challenge. Some Democrats are signaling their disapproval of any measure that would give more money to the government’s controversial immigration enforcement efforts, among them Booker.
“I am not going to support a budget that gives more money to an agency right now that is out of control,” Booker said, per Pix11. “That’s not even a question for me. I will not be voting to support this budget until we start seeing some true accountability and high professional standards.”
Booker also introduced a pair of bills this week to reign in the power of ICE and the DHS: one requiring immigration enforcement officers to wear body cameras, and a second that would establish higher training standards for federal law enforcement officers. Rep. Donald Norcross (D-Camden), too, introduced a separate body camera-related bill in the House.
The failed votes will continue until morale improves
A relatively obscure bill that would have limited overtime pay for voluntary worker training programs unexpectedly failed on the House floor this week, with two of New Jersey’s Republican congressmen among those responsible.
Reps. Chris Smith (R-Manchester) and Jeff Van Drew (R-Dennis) – both of whom have longstanding ties to organized labor despite their party affiliation – joined a breakaway group of six Republicans who sank the bill, and GOP leaders pulled two other labor-related bills from consideration soon afterwards. According to NJ Spotlight News, both congressmen felt that the bill would be a blow to organized labor, with Smith even brandishing a letter from the AFL-CIO to make his point.
“Once I really understood and looked at the bill, I didn’t feel comfortable,” Van Drew told NJ Spotlight after the vote. “Bottom line: People who got a certain amount in their paychecks would get less. I don’t agree with that.”
Tuesday’s vote wasn’t the first time New Jersey’s Republicans defected on a labor bill this Congress; in December, Van Drew, Smith, and Rep. Tom Kean Jr. (R-Westfield) all teamed up to support a Democratic-led bill restoring collective bargaining rights for federal workers.
War powerless
Last week, it looked like the GOP-controlled Senate might take the remarkable step of rebuking President Trump’s military actions in Venezuela via a war powers resolution, which would have required congressional approval for further operations. But while five Republican senators voted to advance the resolution last week, two of them returned to the Republican fold when it came up for a further vote on Wednesday, dooming it to failure.
Senators Booker and Andy Kim both strongly supported the resolution, and Booker said that Republicans “refused to do their jobs” to reassert congressional authority over acts of war.
“The Constitution is unambiguous: Congress has the power and responsibility to authorize the use of military force and declare war,” Booker said. “Congress has a duty of oversight. Congress must serve as a check, not a rubber stamp, to the President. Congressional Republicans have failed on all of these counts.”
En banc shot
A month and a half after her disqualification from service as acting U.S. Attorney for New Jersey by a three-judge federal appellate panel, Alina Habba made a move this week to get the entire Third Circuit to reconsider her case.
Habba resigned from her contested office in December after the Third Circuit ruled against her, but said at the time that she would be interested in returning if the courts allowed it. Now, with its new petition to get an en banc rehearing, the Justice Department is once again gearing up to make the argument that President Trump’s unusual appointment of Habba was lawful and proper.
“The panel’s interpretation of the [Federal Vacancies Reform Act] would hobble Presidential transitions and has been routinely violated by the last four administrations without any court holding the practice unlawful,” the motion states. “Rehearing en banc is warranted.”
In the month since Habba resigned, New Jersey’s U.S. Attorney’s office has been led by a triumvirate of officials who each have jurisdiction over different divisions of the office – though the Trump administration said that arrangement, too, has come under legal challenge.
Congressman names a bill after the thing that nearly killed him
Rep. Norcross nearly died last year after a gallbladder infection progressed to sepsis, and he’s now putting forward legislation to help others like him. The SEPSIS Act – which, of course, stands for the Securing Enhanced Programs, Systems and Initiatives for Sepsis Act – would direct the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to create a new sepsis education program and direct staff and resources to focus on the condition.
“I am here today because of the excellent doctors and nurses who saved my life, but too many families aren’t as lucky,” Norcross said. “With the SEPSIS Act, we can change that. We can save lives and reduce the devastating toll this condition has on our loved ones.”
Norcross has a bipartisan pair of New Jersey co-sponsors in Rep. Kean and Senator Kim; Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer and Senator Susan Collins (R-Maine) are also taking up the charge in the upper chamber.
“New Jersey has long been a leader in the fight against sepsis, and I am grateful to partner with a fellow member of our state’s delegation to bring this critical effort to the federal level,” Kean said.
Other Garden State plots
• With an especially aggressive strain of the flu sweeping the nation, Rep. Josh Gottheimer (D-Tenafly) put forward a set of proposals this week for states to fight back, including via his FIGHT FLU Act, which would give states more money for mobile flu vaccination centers.
“This flu season is particularly deadly, and we need more people to get their flu shots,” Gottheimer said. “Again, let me be as clear as day: Politicians should not overrule doctors. Ideology should never replace science. And when families get confused, fewer kids get vaccinated – and more kids end up in hospitals like this one.”
• Late on Tuesday, the Trump administration suddenly cut off $2 billion worth of funding for mental health and drug addiction services – then, after an outcry, reversed course just 24 hours later. Democrats reacted to the entire saga with derision and alarm.
“This series of events showcase the ineptitude of Secretary Kennedy and the overzealous nature of his team,” Rep. Watson Coleman said. “I’m working with my colleagues on the Appropriations Committee to put in guardrails to prevent Secretary Kennedy and the extremists in the Trump administration from ever doing this again.”
• Rep. Van Drew announced this week that the Department of Housing and Urban Development has completed its restructuring of the Atlantic City Housing Authority after taking it over last year, and said that there will be 25-40 new job opportunities at the agency.
“I have always said the residents living under the previous ACHA deserved better, and now we are finally seeing some real progress,” Van Drew said. “HUD came in, did a full overhaul, and focused on what actually matters: putting residents first. Now that work is paying off.”
