January 17, 2026
Governor Phil Murphy
Office of the Governor
State of New Jersey
Dear Governor Murphy,
In these final days of your term as governor, you—and you alone—have the power to sign into law legislation that will protect immigrant communities while simultaneously affirming New Jersey’s commitment to core constitutional principles. The package of three immigration bills include the Safe Communities Act, the Privacy Protection Act, and the Strengthening Trust Act. Collectively, they ensure safe access to essential services, safeguard personal data, and codify the protections implemented in the current Attorney General’s Immigrant Trust Directive.
Getting this legislation passed has been the work of countless impacted community members, service organizations, advocacy groups, lawmakers at every level, and stakeholders with expertise and lived experience. The multi-year process was careful, collaborative, and deliberative—if at times—painstakingly slow. Nothing less would suffice, when the stakes are so high.
Now, the final decision rests in the power of your pen. The process of discernment must be especially complex as you weigh decisions that will impact the lives of so many who have entrusted you with great responsibility. I suspect that is particularly so in this current political environment when the very underpinnings of our democracy are under attack.
As you contemplate your decision, I offer these thoughts for your consideration. These are, in my opinion, three compelling reasons for signing these bills into law.
First, Democracy demands it.
A bedrock principle of the U.S. constitution is the separation of powers. As any middle schooler can attest, our system of separate but equal branches of government were envisioned as necessary checks and balances to ensure that the democratic process could withstand the inevitable threats it would face. The executive, legislative, and judicial branches each have their own authority but can only function when each of the other branches exercises their authority. Similarly, the concept of federalism separates federal and state government with the expectation that the system of shared but separate powers provides necessary checks and balances.
When the system is under strain and some would blur if not bend the lanes of separation, there is a particular imperative to re-inforce and re-affirm these checks and balances. These three bills address specific immigrant protections but they do so by appealing to the core underpinnings of the system itself. As such, they effectively reassert commitment to the core democratic process—boundaries between federal and state responsibilities and co-equal branches of government that stay within their lanes and while trusting the other branches to exercise their respective authority.
Secondly, the most impacted New Jersey communities support it.
As previously mentioned, this legislation exists as a result of the collective effort of a broad spectrum of stakeholders. There is strength in that diversity. At the same time, a guiding principle throughout the process has been to prioritize, uplift, and share power with the people most affected by these issues. Their lived experiences and first-hand knowledge must be centered for the end result to be effective. The immigrant communities in New Jersey, those most impacted by an intentionally cruel and fear-based immigration policy, support of this legislation. That is not to suggest that immigration communities are monolithic and can be reduced to singular political positions. Such thinking, in fact, contributes to their ongoing political marginalization. They, like all other communities, encompass a multiplicity of views containing nuance and complexity. When immigrant-led groups overwhelmingly concur around an issue, which in this case they do, then it is imperative to hear them. When those most at risk say this is what they need, I believe them, and I urge you to believe them too.
Finally, conscience calls for signing this legislation.
As a Unitarian Universalist minister, I am guided not by a shared creed, but by a covenant of deeply shared values. Those include interdependence, pluralism, justice, transformation, generosity, and equity—all centered around love. When I consider this legislation through the lens of those values, I find conscience calls me to support it. While I have little interest in imposing my values on others, my curiosity invites me to ask what values drive their actions? Reflecting on your eight years leading this state, your legislative record speaks to your values. I urge you to ground your decision about this legislation in those same values. Conscience calls for nothing less.
In faith, for love and for justice,
Reverend Charles Loflin
Executive Director
Unitarian Universalist FaithAction NJ
