NJ: ICE agents can’t be barred from NJ Transit buses, trains and stations

NJ Transit buses, trains and stations will remain open to U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers.

Agency officials said that is because they are considered public places under an executive order from Gov. Mikie Sherrill that sought to limit ICE access to state property.

ICE enforcement and the arrests of people at NJ Transit light rail stations and buses brought a public call for NJ Transit to enact policies barring officers from trains, buses and stations unless they have a judicial warrant signed by a judge.

Members of the public made those requests after Sherrill’s Feb. 11 executive order.

Federal officers may access areas that are open to the public, NJ Transit CEO Kris Kolluri said at the March 12 board of directors meeting, consistent with Sherrill’s executive order.

“The executive order does not limit immigration authorities’ access to areas that are generally open to the public,” said Michael Symons, a state Attorney General’s office spokesperson. “Under the executive order, state agencies cannot consent to immigration authorities using public or nonpublic areas for staging, processing, or as an operations base for immigration enforcement activities.”

Kolluri said that will also be the case for NJ Transit.

“NJ Transit will communicate it and implement the procedure,” he said. “We will work with legal counsel and the governor’s office for non-public property and finalize protocols for interacting with federal agents.”

Public requests followed ICE arrests on Feb. 2 at the 9th and Congress Street light rail station, which straddles Hoboken and Jersey City.

In February, several people urged NJ Transit to go further, and bar ICE from transit vehicles and instructing employees on procedures when confronted by ICE agents.

Sherrill’s executive order is being challenged by the Trump administration.

On Feb. 24, the U.S. Department of Justice filed a lawsuit against New Jersey and Sherrill, alleging that order unlawfully blocks federal agents from carrying out immigration enforcement.

That lawsuit was filed as state lawmakers continue to move a three-bill package that would further curb cooperation with federal civil immigration enforcement.

One of those bills would ban state agencies outside of law enforcement from sharing immigration information. Another limits how police interact with ICE and federal immigration authorities.

Nationally, only one public transit system, located in Washington State, has barred ICE agents from transit vehicles.

One suggestion was that NJ Transit adopt the same procedures as the Greyhound interstate bus lines.

On its website, Greyhound said the company “does not consent to, or provide permission for, warrantless and/or suspicion-less immigration enforcement activities on its buses or to access non-public areas of Greyhound property."

The company also bars employees from allowing agents to board Greyhound buses or access Greyhound non-public property at bus stations without a judicially enforceable warrant.

“In the event immigration enforcement agents make a verbal request or demand, the Greyhound employee or agent receiving the request or demand must document it in writing,” the company policy said.

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