The warrant rule took effect July 9. DHS answered four days later, and one federal suit was already dismissed. The July 17 Roxbury filing in Morris County is the next test.

Essex County and federal immigration enforcement now operate under incompatible rules. The county requires a judicial warrant or order before federal agents may enter non-public areas of county property in a policy that took effect July 9. Four days later, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security published a response. On July 15, Essex County commissioners defended the policy publicly. No compromise appears likely.

On May 13, the Essex County Board of County Commissioners voted 7-0 to adopt the measure. The resolution bars county employees, contractors and agents, including Essex County College personnel, from using county property or resources to assist civil immigration enforcement. The county posted the full text to its eCode360 repository on May 14. 

Entry to non-public space requires a judicial warrant or order. Most ICE arrests rely on administrative warrants issued inside the federal immigration system, without a judge's sign-off. The measure directed the Office of County Counsel, the Sheriff's Office and the Department of Corrections to establish procedures and protocols to carry it out.

Essex County has not maintained immigration detention contracts since 2021. That year, County Executive Joseph DiVincenzo, Jr., terminated the agreement. Federal enforcement actions continue inside county boundaries, unaffected by the resolution. The measure governs only county property and resources. It does not limit federal authority. 

The U.S. Department of Homeland Security maintains a searchable database listing more than 35,000 arrestees and encourages viewers to thank ICE officers. Lauren Bis, acting assistant secretary at the department, said in a statement that appeared on DHS's website on July 13: "Sanctuary policies like this make New Jersey communities less safe." 

"In Essex County, instead of notifying ICE law enforcement, sanctuary politicians will RELEASE criminals from jails into New Jersey communities.  When sanctuary politicians refuse to cooperate with ICE law enforcement they put the safety of the public and our officers at risk," Bis added. 

DHS has not demonstrated that the county resolution caused any release, and it has not filed a separate lawsuit against Essex County itself.

Courts have already weighed in

Judge Evelyn Padin of the U.S. District Court for the District of New Jersey dealt the federal litigation strategy a setback on June 24. She dismissed the government's suit against Newark, Jersey City, Hoboken and Paterson without prejudice. The dismissal order states that "the only examples of alleged non-cooperation in the Complaint implicate the Essex County Correctional Facility," which was not a defendant in the action.

The government filed a broader state suit, U.S. v. State of New Jersey, in the same district on February 23, as docket 3:26-cv-01770. The state moved to dismiss that action on May 8. Padin left the door open for refiling in the municipal case, and the dismissal does not bind the district's handling of the state case. The DOJ has not announced its next move for either suit.

Brendan Gill, the county resolution's sponsor, pushed back publicly against DHS on July 15. "The Essex County Commissioners stand by our policy regulating ICE coordination and activities on county property." He also cited his family, saying that "my family has seen firsthand the harm and social division caused by Donald Trump's ICE directives." 

"All violent criminals in Essex County are duly prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law, whether they are native-born or otherwise," Gill added. "County law enforcement coordinates with immigration enforcement when presented with a judicial warrant." 

Carlos Pomares, who leads the board, raised a wider constitutional objection. "We do not agree with ICE's tactics in this Administration, and we believe they do not conform with the Constitution and do not make our country any safer or more well off."

Newark and the state press their own campaigns

Newark and the State of New Jersey operate under separate jurisdictional frameworks. But Governor Mikie Sherrill applied a similar judicial-warrant rule to state property through Executive Order No. 12, issued February 11. 

Federal authorities have not recognized state inspection authority at Delaney Hall, the immigration detention facility in Newark at the center of the controversy in New Jersey. Newark Mayor Ras Baraka, who won a fourth term on May 12, rejects that position outright. "This is not a federal facility, these are not federal grounds; it's a private facility, private workers, and they are subject to state and municipal laws." His argument rests on the property's private ownership. Separately, U.S. Representative LaMonica McIver (D, 10th District) has an appeal pending at the Third Circuit in a criminal case arising from a confrontation at the facility.

The state operates independently and on multiple fronts. Governor Mikie Sherrill announced a $12 million funding increase for the Detention Deportation Defense Initiative on June 4, raising its total to $20.2 million, the same day her administration launched the Rapid Legal Response Initiative. 

On June 2, the office of New Jersey Attorney General Jennifer Davenport sued GEO Group in the Superior Court of New Jersey under docket ESX-C-000131-26, citing N.J.S.A. 26:1A-15, -16 and -18 for state health-inspection authority. A second inspection attempt met with a federal denial on June 24, the state reported.

Roxbury warehouse plan reversed course twice

Meanwhile, the plan for a 1,500-bed detention facility in Roxbury Township has changed course — again. The Department of Homeland Security purchased the Route 46 warehouse for $129.3 million in February, one of 11 properties acquired under then-Secretary Kristi Noem. On June 29, the government told the federal court in a lawsuit brought by the state and township's lawsuit that it no longer planned to convert the warehouse and intended to sell it.

Hours later, new Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin, who replaced Noem in March, publicly contradicted the filing on X. "DHS will NEVER back down. We will be keeping this site for a detention center." Federal attorneys filed notice July 10 that the agency no longer planned to sell. 

Federal ownership makes the warehouse tax-exempt, at a cost to Roxbury Township, Morris County and the local school district, with losses estimated at $1.8 million a year. Mayor Shawn Potillo, a Republican, said on July 11 that Roxbury's opposition stands and that its legal challenge continues. The township's position remains distinct from Essex County's.

Opposing counsel in the Roxbury litigation must file a joint status report by July 17; the nature of that filing will mark the next step in the Morris County story. In Essex County, the Board's resolution stands, and neither side has indicated retreat. The Department of Homeland Security has issued no further statement on the resolution. For now, the standoff continues.

Related Articles

• Federal Judge Dismisses DOJ Sanctuary-City Suit Against Four NJ Cities

• DHS Reportedly Selling Roxbury Warehouse, Abandoning ICE Detention Plan

• Sherrill Denied Access to Delaney Hall: Inside NJ's Escalating War Over ICE Detention

• State Police Tear-Gas, Charge Crowd on Horseback at Newark ICE Facility

Sources

• Essex County, New Jersey, Board of County Commissioners, Resolution No. 44, "Resolution Prohibiting U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement from Entering Any Essex County Owned or Leased Building" (adopted May 13, 2026)

• New Jersey v. GEO Group, Superior Court of New Jersey, Essex Vicinage, Chancery Division, Docket No. ESX-C-000131-26 (June 2, 2026)

• U.S. v. City of Newark, U.S. District Court (D.N.J.), Docket No. 2:25-cv-05081, Order (June 24, 2026)

• U.S. v. State of New Jersey, U.S. District Court (D.N.J.), Docket No. 3:26-cv-01770 (February 23, 2026)

• Nikita Biryukov, New Jersey Monitor, "Judge tosses Trump challenge to NJ cities' sanctuary policies for immigrants" (June 24, 2026)

• Ishani Desai, The New York Times, "Judge Throws Out Federal Suit Against 4 N.J. 'Sanctuary' Cities" (June 24, 2026)

• Sal DiMaggio, NJ.com, "ICE's Roxbury detention center may be back on, days after Sherrill declared a 'major victory'" (July 12, 2026; updated July 13, 2026)

• Joey Fox and Daniel Han, Politico, "Judge tosses DOJ lawsuit against 4 New Jersey 'sanctuary cities'" (June 24, 2026)

• Steve Janoski, The Jersey Vindicator, "DHS confirms nearly 120 detainees moved from Delaney Hall, 3 hospitalized" (July 11, 2026)

• Kyle Morel, NorthJersey.com, "Essex County has banned ICE operations on private property" (May 18, 2026)

• NBC News, "N.J. targets prison company running immigration detention center in lawsuits over conditions" (June 2, 2026)

• NJ.com, "This N.J. county is saying No to ICE. DHS is not happy." (July 15, 2026)

• NJ101.5, "Essex County Defends ICE Policy After DHS Criticism" (July 15, 2026)

• NJ101.5, "NJ thought this ICE detention center was dead — now the Trump administration wants it back" (July 13, 2026)

• Murjani Rawls, NJ.com, "Newark mayor to lift curfew around Delaney Hall ICE facility. 'Our objective is to close the building.'" (June 3, 2026)

• The Jersey Vindicator, "Trump administration reverses course again on Roxbury ICE detention center" (July 11, 2026)

• TIME, "What to Know About the Hunger Strike and Protests at a New Jersey ICE Facility" (June 1, 2026)

• Essex County, New Jersey, Board of Commissioners, "ESSEX COMMISSIONERS PASS RESOLUTION BANNING IMMIGRATION ENFORCEMENT FROM COUNTY PROPERTIES" (May 14, 2026)

• Essex County, New Jersey, "Statement from Essex County Commissioners President Wayne L. Richardson on Essex County Ending Its Contract with ICE" (2021)

• LaMonica McIver, U.S. Representative (D, 10th District), "McIver Stands Against DOJ Targeting at Oral Arguments in Criminal Case" (June 24, 2026)

• New Jersey Department of Law and Public Safety, Office of the Attorney General, "Governor Sherrill, Attorney General Davenport, Roxbury Township Sue ICE, DHS Over Plans to Convert Warehouse into Mass Detention Facility" (March 20, 2026)

• New Jersey Department of Law and Public Safety, Office of the Attorney General, "New Jersey Sues Delaney Hall Operator After It Refuses Full Access to Health Inspectors" (June 2, 2026)

• New Jersey Department of Law and Public Safety, Office of the Attorney General, "Governor Sherrill, Attorney General Davenport, Health Commissioner Issue Statement After Health Inspectors Are Prevented from Conducting a Full Inspection" (June 24, 2026)

• New Jersey Office of the Governor, "Protecting Due Process: Governor Sherrill Launches Initiatives to Resist Unconstitutional Immigration Detention and Enforcement by the Trump Administration" (June 4, 2026)

• U.S. Department of Homeland Security, "WOW.DHS.GOV: DHS Adds Another 5,000 Criminal Illegal Aliens to 'Worst of the Worst' Website" (June 1, 2026)

• U.S. Department of Homeland Security, "Essex County, New Jersey Sanctuary Politicians Enact New Law Refusing to Notify ICE Law Enforcement Before Releasing Criminal Illegal Aliens from Jail" (July 13, 2026)