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EXCLUSIVE: The Department of Homeland Security slammed a new vulgar New Jersey bill aimed at punishing federal immigration enforcement in the Garden State, highlighting several victims of crimes committed by illegal immigrants that officials say lawmakers are ignoring.
Earlier this week, Assembs. Ravinder Bhalla and Katie Brennan, both Hoboken Democrats, drafted the “F—ICE Act” — with the profane acronym spelled out — that would allow civil action to be taken against immigration enforcement agents.
The bill was reportedly drafted after a Democratic Socialist councilman from neighboring Jersey City was rebuked by a federal agent when he arrived at the scene of a raid on the Hudson-Bergen Light Rail, where an agent told him: “I don’t need a warrant, bro.”
“This is a disgusting bill just meant to demonize our officers who are experiencing a highly coordinated campaign of violence against our law enforcement,” Deputy Assistant DHS Secretary Lauren Bis told Fox News Digital.
“Our officers are facing a 1,300% increase in assaults against them, a 3,200% increase in vehicular attacks, and an 8,000% increase in death threats.”
Bis warned that anyone who lays hands on officers or tries to obstruct their operations “is committing a felony and a federal crime.”
“What these New Jersey sanctuary lawmakers are trying to do is unlawful, and they know it. Federal officials acting in the course of their duties are immune from liability under state law,” she said.
Fox News Digital reached out to the New Jersey Assembly Majority Office for comment from Bhalla and Brennan.
Bis later added that New Jersey is the same state that “allowed a criminal illegal alien onto American streets who killed a mother and 11-year-old daughter while drunk driving.”
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“What about recourse for the victims of illegal aliens?” she asked of the F—ICE Act sponsors.
Bis outlined several recent DHS arrests of illegal immigrants convicted of violent crimes, including Felix Diaz of Cuba, who was arrested on a homicide charge.
Rodrigo Basantes of Ecuador was convicted of endangering the welfare of a child through sexual contact and sexual assault of a victim under age 13, while Mexican national Jose Villalva was previously convicted of child molestation.
Later Friday, New Jersey Gov. Mikie Sherrill doubled down on the state’s tack toward ICE with a scathing letter to DHS Secretary Kristi Noem objecting to the purchase of a warehouse near Lake Hopatcong that would be used as a federal facility.
“The Roxbury immigration detention facility will not make New Jerseyans safer. Across the country, federal immigration officers have trampled on basic liberties and engaged in unconscionable acts of violence against law-abiding Americans,” Sherrill claimed.
“These acts of violence have left Americans severely injured and, in some cases, resulted in their deaths. ICE agents have repeatedly violated the constitutional rights of citizens and non-citizens alike. I have no reason to believe that DHS will treat the people of New Jersey any differently should it expand its presence in our state.”
She claimed DHS has shown a “chilling disregard for both human life and the rule of law.”
However, not every New Jerseyan has been on board with the new governor, as boos rained down on the former Morristown congresswoman when she was introduced at a New Jersey Devils hockey game this week.
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