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Residents demand action after school board member suggests ICE facility in Hanover Township
Summary
Public commenters at Hanover Township's Jan. 22 special meeting criticized a board of education member's social-media suggestion that an ICE detention facility be located in town, urged that he resign, and pressed the township to denounce the idea; the mayor said the township does not want a detention center and the township attorney recapped state limits on local cooperation with federal civil immigration enforcement.
Public criticism of a school board member's social-media suggestion that an Immigration and Customs Enforcement detention facility be placed in Hanover Township dominated the public-comment period at the township committee's Jan. 22 special meeting.
Diana Murray, co-chair of the Hanover Democratic Committee, told the committee the Facebook post by the board of education member crossed a line and asked the committee to request his resignation. "ICE does not belong in Hanover Township or anywhere," Murray said, urging the governing body to act to protect students and families.
Byron Hagen and Tim Murray echoed those concerns, arguing the suggestion threatened immigrant families and undermined trust in schools. "This is not about politics. This is about duty," Byron Hagen said, calling for town and school officials to reaffirm that they serve all students.
Fern, a member of the public who spoke later in the session, asked the township to pass a formal resolution opposing any ICE detention center, similar to a resolution adopted by neighboring Roxbury, and to commit the Hanover Police Department not to assist civil immigration operations.
Mayor Thomas A. Gallagher responded that "Hanover Township does not want an ICE detention center or any detention center. Period." He cautioned that some properties under active litigation (he cited a local Red Roof Inn involved in affordable-housing litigation) make public statements or actions legally sensitive and said zoning changes are within the township's purview only.
Town attorney Jeff summarized the New Jersey Attorney General's law enforcement directive 2018-6 (as revised in 2019), commonly called the immigrant trust directive, and told residents that state guidance limits local police participation in civil immigration enforcement. Under the directive, he said, state and local officers "may not stop, question, arrest, search, or detain individuals solely based on actual or suspected immigration status" and may only assist federal civil immigration authorities in narrow, specified circumstances such as when there is a judicial warrant or a request tied to a serious criminal matter.
Mayor Gallagher asked staff to publish the attorney's explanation and provide a hard copy for residents.
No formal motion to censure or remove the school board member was recorded on the meeting agenda or in the actions carried by the committee during the session; public commenters urged the committee to consider a formal statement or resolution at a later date. The committee closed public comment and adjourned the meeting.
Next steps: The committee did not take a formal vote to remove or censure the board member during the meeting; residents asked the township to consider a public denouncement and a resolution opposing detention centers for a future meeting.
