We write with an urgent ask: the New Jersey state legislature can stand up to stop family separation in New Jersey by funding legal defense for detained immigrants in the state budget.

Many people in immigration detention in New Jersey are forced to fight deportation without a lawyer, simply because they cannot afford one. Deportations separate families, deplete our workforce, deprive New Jersey of tax revenue, inflict hardship, and weaken our communities. During the pandemic, detention can be a death sentence, with multiple outbreaks of COVID in every detention center in New Jersey.

Our state can step up to ensure no one must fight deportation alone by funding free, appointed counsel for low income detainees. In 2018, New Jersey started a pilot publicly funded deportation defense program. This year, Gov. Murphy has allocated $8.2 million to the program, which will provide even more detainees with the opportunity to have an attorney and a fair hearing.