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A4302
ASSEMBLY, No. 4302
STATE OF NEW JERSEY
222nd LEGISLATURE
�
INTRODUCED FEBRUARY 19, 2026
Sponsored by:
Assemblyman� RAVI S. BHALLA
District 32 (Hudson)
Assemblywoman� ANNETTE QUIJANO
District 20 (Union)
Assemblywoman� KATIE BRENNAN
District 32 (Hudson)
Assemblywoman� ALIXON COLLAZOS-GILL
District 27 (Essex and Passaic)
Co-Sponsored by:
Assemblywoman Lopez
SYNOPSIS
���� Prohibits certain employment of certain US
Immigration and Customs Enforcement employees in certain State and local
positions.��
CURRENT VERSION OF TEXT
���� As introduced.
��
An Act
concerning the employment of United States
Immigration and Customs Enforcement employees in certain State and local
positions and supplementing Title 11A of the New Jersey Statutes.
����
Be It
Enacted
by the Senate and General Assembly of
the State of New Jersey:
���� 1.� The Legislature finds and
declares that:�
���� a.�
Beginning in 2025, Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents and officers have
threatened and intimated United States citizens and noncitizens alike, through
untargeted arrests and brutality based on nothing more than a person�s racial
appearance, language spoken, means of earning a living, or exercise of First
Amendment-protected expression.
���� b.� Beginning in 2025, the
United States Department of Homeland Security has recruited agents and officers
to Immigration and Customs Enforcement with the promise of being unrestrained
in the manner in which they can engage with civilians or by the laws of the
United States or any State.
���� c.� The current operations of
the Immigration and Customs Enforcement demonstrate an immorality that New
Jersey cannot afford to have in its ranks of peace officers and teachers, whose
duties include interacting with the public.
���� d.� Ensuring that public
employees, particularly those who interact with the public in unsupervised
roles, are of sound mind and not likely to engage in racial profiling or
brutalization is a matter of Statewide concern.
���� 2.� a.� Notwithstanding any
law, rule, or regulation to the contrary, persons employed by the United States
Immigration and Customs Enforcement as an Immigration and Customs Enforcement
agent or officer at any time and in any capacity between September 1, 2025, and
January 20, 2029, shall be disqualified from holding employment, whether with
or without compensation, as a State employee, an employee of a political
subdivision, a law enforcement officer, or a teacher on or after the effective
date of P.L��� , c. ���(C.������ ) (pending before the Legislature as this bill
).�
���� b.� As used in this section:
���� �Immigration
and Customs Enforcement agent or officer� means a person responsible for or who
provides direct support in the identification, arrest, detention, transport,
processing, or removal of individuals violating immigration laws.� The term
shall include, but not be limited to, Deportation Officers and Immigration
Enforcement Agents.�
���� "Law enforcement
agency" means a State agency or political subdivision, or part thereof,
determined by the Attorney General to have law enforcement responsibilities.
���� "Law enforcement
officer" means any person who is employed as a sworn member of any State
agency or political subdivision law enforcement agency, department, division,
or instrumentality who is statutorily empowered to act for the detection,
investigation, arrest, conviction, detention, or rehabilitation of persons
violating the criminal laws of the State.� This term shall include, but is not
limited to, sworn members of the New Jersey State Police, the Division of
Criminal Justice, and the Youth Justice Commission; State correctional police
officers pursuant to section 1 of P.L.1968, c.427 (C.2A:154-4); county
correctional police officers pursuant to N.J.S.2A:154-3; State Parole officers
pursuant to section 1 of P.L.1968, c.427 (C.2A:154-4); special law enforcement
officers of all classes pursuant to P.L.1985, c.439 (C.40A:14-146.8 et seq.); humane
law enforcement officers appointed pursuant to section 25 of P.L.2017, c.331
(C.4:22-14.1) or section 28 of P.L.2017, c.331 (C.4:22-14.4); transit police
officers appointed by New Jersey Transit pursuant to section 2 of P.L.1989
c.291 (C.27:25-15.1); and campus police officers appointed pursuant to
P.L.1970, c.211 (C.18A:6-4.2 et seq.).
���� "Political
subdivision" means any county, municipality, school district or other
political subdivision of the State of New Jersey or any instrumentality or
agency of the political subdivision.
���� "State agency" means
any of the principal departments in the Executive Branch of State government,
and any division, board, bureau, office, commission, or other instrumentality
within or created by a department, and any independent State authority,
commission, instrumentality, or agency, including any public institution of
higher education.
���� "Teacher" means any
regular teacher, special teacher, helping teacher, teacher clerk, principal,
vice-principal, supervisor, supervising principal, director, superintendent,
city superintendent, assistant city superintendent, county superintendent,
State Commissioner or Assistant Commissioner of Education, members of the State
Department of Education who are certificated, unclassified professional staff
and other members of the teaching or professional staff of any class, public
school, renaissance school project established pursuant to P.L.2011, c.176
(C.18A:36C-1 et seq.) upon commencement of employment, high school, normal
school, model school, training school, vocational school, truant reformatory
school, or parental school, and of any and all classes or schools within the
State conducted under the order and superintendence, and wholly or partly at
the expense of the State Board of Education, of a duly elected or appointed
board of education, board of school directors, or board of trustees of the State
or of any school district or normal school district thereof, and any persons
under contract or engagement to perform one or more of these functions.� It
shall also mean any person who serves as a substitute teacher.
���� 3. �This act shall take effect
immediately.�
STATEMENT
���� This bill prohibits the
employment of United States Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents
and officers in certain State and local positions.�
���� Under the bill, persons
employed by ICE as agents or officers between September 1, 2025, and January
20, 2029, will be disqualified from holding employment, whether with or without
compensation, as an employee of the State or a political subdivision, as a law
enforcement officer, or as a teacher.� This bill applies to civil service and
non-civil service positions.�
���� The bill defines ICE agent or
officer to mean a person responsible for or who provides direct support in the
identification, arrest, detention, transport, processing, or removal of
individuals violating immigration laws, and includes, but is not limited to,
Deportation Officers and Immigration Enforcement Agents.�
���� Beginning in 2025, ICE agents
and officers have threatened and intimidated United States citizens and
noncitizens alike, through untargeted arrests and brutality based on nothing
more than a person�s racial appearance, language spoken, means of earning a
living, or exercise of First Amendment-protected expression.
���� Beginning in 2025, the United
States Department of Homeland Security has recruited peace officers to ICE with
the promise of being unrestrained in the manner in which they can engage with
civilians or by the laws of the United States or any state.
���� The current operations of ICE
demonstrate an immorality that New Jersey cannot afford to have in its ranks of
peace officers and teachers, whose duties include interacting with the public.�
Ensuring that public employees, particularly those who interact with the public
in unsupervised roles, are of sound mind and not likely to engage in racial
profiling or brutalization is a matter of Statewide concern.�