New Jersey Citizen Action (NJCA) has issued a statement condemning ongoing violence in Gaza and the United States’ mass deportation policies. The organization called on elected officials to take urgent action regarding both international and domestic human rights issues.
Dena Mottola Jaborska, Executive Director of NJCA, outlined several demands related to the situation in Gaza. These include an immediate ceasefire, allowing humanitarian aid into the region, releasing all hostages, urging officials to condemn violence and blockades on aid, and rejecting claims that support for Gaza is anti-Semitic.
“The protection and preservation of human rights is essential to a thriving democracy – and yet, the genocide in Gaza has reached catastrophic levels,” said Mottola Jaborska. “With U.S. support, Israeli military operations in the troubled region have devastated civilian infrastructure, killed over 18,500 of children, and pushed millions to the brink of famine and displacement.The U.S. must demand that Israel take immediate action to end the war and humanitarian crisis in Gaza or face withdrawal of US financial, military and diplomatic support."
Mottola Jaborska also addressed concerns about U.S. immigration policy: “At the same time, here in the United States, the Trump administration’s mass deportation effort, being carried out in the most grossly inhumane way imaginable, is hurting families and communities across our country. People have been abused, denied basic needs, separated from their families and have had their human rights violated.”
NJCA called on U.S. representatives to end mass deportations targeting non-criminal immigrants; require ICE/DHS officers to identify themselves properly; ensure detainees have access to legal counsel; eliminate incentives leading to wrongful detentions; ban private immigration detention centers in New Jersey; prevent use of military forces for civil protests or deportations; reverse plans for using McGuire-Fort Dix as a detention camp; establish independent oversight for detention facilities; investigate poor conditions promptly; and pursue comprehensive immigration reform with a pathway to citizenship.
“These tactics and policies undermine our democracy and must be stopped. As a non-profit organization committed to justice, we cannot remain silent while these atrocities are carried out with our tax dollars. Now is not the time for silence or neutrality. Our democracy cannot thrive while it is complicit in the abuse and dehumanization of people: whether they are children in Gaza or families seeking safety and opportunity in the United States. We call on our elected leaders to join us in this call. Our collective voice must rise louder than the forces of injustice.We must act now,” said Mottola Jaborska.
New Jersey Citizen Action describes itself as a statewide advocacy group working for social, racial, and economic justice.
