Last week, the New Jersey Supreme Court updated the Statewide Judicial Policies to conform to New Jersey’s Immigrant Rights Directive. New Jersey Supreme Court Directive 04-79 stops court officials from collecting information about an individual’s immigration status unless it is absolutely necessary. Many of the state’s court forms will be updated to remove immigration-related questions.

Additionally, the directive provides statewide rules for what are expected to be “rare instances” in which federal Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents arrest undocumented immigrants. The Court did not define or provide examples of what would constitute a “rare instance,” relying only on comments of Newark’s ICE Field Office Director, John Tsoukaris, at a recent meeting with members of the Judiciary, that “ICE will minimize arrests at courthouse.”

Read the Supreme Court Directive on immigration enforcement matters, here.

To learn more about this post or any other immigration matter, please feel free to contact me at rglahoud@norris-law.com.