New Jersey Boosts Immigrant Legal Defense Fund to $20 Million as Delaney Hall Dispute Continues

The Senate passed a roughly $70 billion bill to fund ICE and Border Patrol through the end of Trump’s second term.

New Jersey state police arrest protesters outside Delaney Hall, which is being used as an Immigration detention center, during a curfew, in Newark, New Jersey, on May 31, 2026. Photo by Eduardo Munoz/AFP via Getty Images

New Jersey Gov. Mikie Sherrill on June 4 announced a $12 million increase to the state’s fund for immigrant legal defense and a new effort to recruit volunteer attorneys, steps her administration framed as protecting due process amid federal immigration enforcement.

The money raises the state’s Detention Deportation Defense Initiative to $20.2 million, which the state said would double its services and cover all low-income detainees at Delaney Hall in Newark. A separate program will train volunteer lawyers to take on emergency cases challenging detentions in federal court.