New Jersey Gov Sherrill announces portal for residents to upload videos of ICE

New Jersey Gov. Mikie Sherrill, a Democrat, announced that state officials will launch a portal allowing residents to upload photos and videos of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents conducting federal operations.

Sherrill revealed the initiative during a Wednesday appearance on The Daily Show, Comedy Central’s nightly comedy news program.

“If you see an ICE agent on the street, pull out your phone, we want to know,” Sherrill said.

“They have not been available,” the governor continued. “They’re going to pick people up, they won’t tell us who they are, they won’t tell us if they’re here legally, they won’t check. They’ll take American citizens. They picked up a five-year-old child. We want papers, and we’re going to make sure we get them.”

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New Jersey Governor Mikie Sherrill announced that state officials would launch a portal allowing residents to upload videos of ICE operations. (Michael Nagle/Bloomberg via Getty Images)

Sherill said his administration would soon launch a portal so New Jersey residents “can download all the videos from their cellphones and alert people” about local immigration operations.

A spokesman for the governor, Sean Higgins, said the Sherill administration would release further details in the coming days.

“Keeping New Jerseyans safe is Governor Sherrill’s top priority, and in the coming days she and Acting Attorney General Davenport will announce additional measures to protect New Jerseyans from the overreach of the federal government,” Higgins said in a statement.

Sherrill also said his administration intends to provide information to educate New Jersey residents about their rights in the state.

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New Jersey Gov. Mikie Sherrill said her administration would launch a portal so New Jersey residents “can download all the videos on their cellphones and alert people” about immigration operations. (Eduardo Muñoz Álvarez/Getty Images)

New York Attorney General Letitia James launched a similar portal in her state in October, saying state officials would review videos and images uploaded to the portal to determine whether immigration agents violated the law. California authorities also opened a portal last month allowing residents to report possible illegal acts committed by ICE agents.

Some grassroots groups across the country have also been warning community members about reports of ICE activity, so migrants can avoid the area.

This follows two killings of U.S. citizens by federal immigration agents in Minneapolis this month. Both shootings were recorded by bystanders and sparked unrest in Minnesota and across the country.

Renee Nicole Good was shot and killed by ICE Agent Jonathan Ross on Jan. 7 in Minneapolis, and Border Patrol agents fatally shot Alex Pretti on Saturday while he was recording immigration enforcement in the same city.

Pretti, an intensive care nurse, appeared to be trying to help a woman who officers had knocked down when he was sprayed with an irritant, pushed to the ground and beaten, according to videos and testimony. An officer was then seen removing Pretti’s legitimate firearm from his waistband before other officers fired several shots, killing him.

Two killings of U.S. citizens by federal immigration agents in Minneapolis this month were recorded by bystanders. (Victor J. Blue/Bloomberg via Getty Images)

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Sherrill also compared ICE to the secret police forces she observed in other countries while serving in the Navy.

“We saw people on the street with masks and no badges. So not responsible at all, hiding from the population – and we saw again and again an attack on what law enforcement should be doing to keep people safe,” she said Wednesday.

Democrats in Congress and various state legislatures have for months sought to pass measures banning immigration agents from wearing masks to hide their identities, arguing that such legislation is necessary to ensure transparency.