NEWARK - Republicans front themselves as the family values party. Or did.  But the policies of President Donald J. Trump have shredded families, grandmother Diane Gonzalez said this morning.

Gonzalez works at La Casa de Don Pedro, a union organizing effort born from the Better Beginnings campaign – a partnership between New Jersey Communities United and the Communications Workers of America (CWA).

"There is no time for family," Gonzalez (pictured above) told U.S. Senator Cory Booker (D-NJ), referring specifically to the lives of dutiful mothers and grandmothers working multiple jobs to make ends meet, which impair precious time with children, exacerbated by Trump's tariffs increasing costs and contributing to job volatility.

On top of that, families may find themselves subjected to searches and seizures by federal ICE agents wearing masks and carrying guns. A trip by children to the same schools now saddled with Trump's education cuts - is "like the underground railroad," Peter T. Rosario, president & CEO of La Casa de Don Pedro, told Booker.

Rosario was respectful in his comment, wishing not to draw too fine a point of comparison with the plight of runaway slaves. But Booker acknowledged the comment as in-bounds, given the ongoing havoc caused by Trump's ICE age roundups.

In his district office in Newark this morning, Booker heard from Rosario and Gonzalez as he prepares to fight Trump's next budget.

"All across the country people are facing increasing challenges," said the Senator, who hosted a roundtable discussion with NJ parents, educators, and administrators to discuss the rising cost of living under President Trump as back to school season begins.

Among those others participating: educator Chantai Rivers-Jasy, community leader Wintischa Wilson of Rahway, and Thealisa Moss, Managing Director of Community Empowerment, La Casa de Don Pedro.