The municipal victory does not affect county jail contracts that generate revenue and house detainees.

A federal judge  dismissed the U.S. Department of Justice's sanctuary-city lawsuit against four New Jersey municipalities on June 24, ruling that the cities' policies limiting cooperation with federal immigration enforcement were already covered by a statewide directive that independently binds the same officers. The ruling was a procedural victory for Newark, Hoboken, Jersey City, and Paterson.

Judge Evelyn Padin of the U.S. District Court for the District of New Jersey found that the federal government lacked standing to sue because the state's Immigrant Trust Directive independently bound the same law enforcement officers that the municipal policies targeted. Even if the court had enjoined the city policies, the officers would still be barred from the same forms of assistance to ICE under state law.

The directive had twice survived federal court review, including a direct challenge by the federal government that the government did not appeal. The complaint named Ras Baraka of Newark, Ravi Bhalla of Hoboken, Steven Fulop of Jersey City, and Andre Sayegh of Paterson as defendants. The court later replaced Bhalla and Fulop with their successors, Emily Jabbour and James Solomon, under procedural rules.

The dismissal was the second federal sanctuary-city loss for the Trump administration in 48 hours. A federal judge in Los Angeles dismissed a similar lawsuit on June 22. The administration has filed multiple sanctuary-jurisdiction lawsuits nationwide, some of which have been appealed.

Former Hoboken Mayor Ravi Bhalla, now an assemblyman, issued a statement applauding the ruling. "The court got it right here, and they saw right through the Trump administration's attempt to politicize the Justice Department," he stated. "Cities and states have every right to decide how their own resources are used, and that includes making sure our tax dollars aren't spent separating families and deporting our neighbors."

Jabbour, Bhalla's successor as Hoboken mayor, said the court's ruling made clear that "the federal government never should have filed this case in the first place." "Our policies have always been about making sure every resident feels safe in their own city," she said.

Jersey City Mayor James Solomon said the ruling was a victory for the city's values. "We will continue to do everything within our power to protect our neighbors and push back against the Trump Administration's abusive and cruel federal overreach," he said.

The mayors' victory does not affect county jail operations. New Jersey law assigns jails to counties, not municipalities, and none of the four cities operate correctional facilities. Padin noted this explicitly in her opinion, writing that the complaint "does not plausibly allege that Hoboken or Jersey City operate correctional facilities." She raised the point to show the federal government had not alleged a concrete injury traceable to the cities, not to weigh in on county jail operations.

County Detention Revenue Survives the Municipal Court Ruling

Hudson County's role in the detention infrastructure is less clear than the municipal court victory suggests. The county terminated its 287(g) deputization agreement with ICE in January 2022. But it maintained a federal detention contract renewed in November 2020 for up to ten years, which generated $20.5 million in county revenue in 2019 at a rate of $120 per detainee per day.

By June 2021, the county held 41 ICE detainees, down from a peak of 600 in 2017. That year, the state awarded the county a $7 million pilot reentry grant to make up for revenue lost as the detainee population fell. The county has not released current population or revenue figures, but County Executive Craig Guy signed an executive order in January 2026 banning ICE from county property.

On February 6, 2026, an ICE agent walked into the Hudson County courthouse in Jersey City. Sheriff's officers on duty "did not know how to respond." The officers were caught between a county executive order and the county's federal detention contract.

The incident unfolded while Guy and Commissioner Bill O'Dea were on a Zoom call discussing executive orders. O'Dea later told reporters that the situation was resolved and that the individual at risk was able to safely exit the building.

That confusion is not unique to Hudson County. The material reality for immigrant residents in New Jersey is shaped by ICE arrest operations that have detained 5,378 people since January 2025 and a detention infrastructure concentrated at Delaney Hall, a private GEO Group facility in Newark where the population tripled to 807 by November 2025. Hudson County has not said whether its contract houses any of those detainees.

The ruling does not slow the ICE arrests or the detention infrastructure. Both continue to operate in New Jersey.

Related Articles

• Hudson County Collects $20 Million A Year Housing ICE Detainees – And Has No Plans To Stop

• DHS Reportedly Selling Roxbury Warehouse, Abandoning ICE Detention Plan

• Sherrill Denied Access to Delaney Hall As Hunger Strike Enters Sixth Day

Sources

• ACLU of New Jersey, "Hudson County Terminates 287(g) Agreement with ICE" (Jan. 24, 2022)

• Dan Israel, Hudson County View, "Hudson County Sheriff's Office publicly releases ICE policy after courthouse incident" (Feb. 17, 2026)

• Dan Israel, Hudson County View, "Judge dismisses DOJ's sanctuary city lawsuit against Hoboken and Jersey City" (June 25, 2026)

• Dan Israel, Hudson County View, "O'Dea asks HCPO to weigh in on ICE-related OPRA requests to sheriff's office" (April 14, 2026)

• Freedom for Immigrants, "Hudson County Freeholders Vote to Renew ICE Contract" (Nov. 10, 2020)

• New Jersey Monitor, "Hudson County extends ICE contract, citing revenue" (Sept. 10, 2021)

• NJ Spotlight News, "Delaney Hall population triples as ICE detention expands" (Dec. 8, 2025)

• NJ Spotlight News, "Hudson County extends ICE contract, despite promises to end it" (June 10, 2021)

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

• United States v. City of Newark, et al., D.N.J., Docket No. 25cv5081 (EP) (AME), Document No. 78 (June 24, 2026)