From Neighborhoods to a Statewide Movement: Immigrant Families and Organizers Unite at ICE Out of New Jersey Asamblea Popular

Hundreds gather for a statewide people's assembly to strengthen a growing network of community organizers, build collective power, and advance a shared vision of an ICE-free New Jersey.

NEW BRUNSWICK, N.J., Oct. 10 - On Saturday, October 10, immigrant families, grassroots organizers, rapid response teams, community leaders, and allies from across New Jersey came together for the ICE Out of New Jersey Asamblea Popular, marking an important victory for a growing a unified statewide movement determined to confront immigration enforcement and build a future free from ICE.

The assembly brought together communities that have spent months organizing in their neighborhoods, responding to ICE activity, supporting families facing detention and deportation, and developing networks of mutual aid and community defense. However, what emerged was more than simply a gathering of people and organizations. What began as local efforts by families and neighbors to protect one another is increasingly becoming a coordinated statewide struggle, uniting communities from across New Jersey around a common vision: an ICE-free future.

At the heart of this movement are immigrant families themselves. Across New Jersey, immigrant families are transforming fear and isolation into collective action. Families directly impacted by detention, deportation, and immigration enforcement are not simply waiting for someone else to defend them. They are organizing their neighbors, sharing information, supporting other families, and building the community relationships necessary to protect one another. Rather than waiting for institutions or elected officials to protect them, families are taking an active role in organizing their own neighborhoods and shaping the movement's direction. The Asamblea Popular created a space for these families and the organizations working alongside them to build relationships, exchange experiences, and strengthen the coordination necessary to turn neighborhood-level organizing into a powerful statewide network.

Throughout the day, families shared powerful stories of loved ones detained by ICE, the devastating effects of family separation, and the fear that has entered their homes, workplaces, and neighborhoods. Some families described the experiences that first brought them into the struggle and how those experiences motivated them to support others facing similar circumstances. Their stories were a reminder that behind every detention is a family, a neighborhood, and a community whose lives have been disrupted.

But these stories were also stories of resistance. They demonstrated the courage and leadership emerging from communities most directly impacted by immigration enforcement. Families who once found themselves searching for help are now organizing alongside their neighbors, supporting other families, and becoming leaders in the growing movement. Their organizing has become a driving force in the growing movement across New Jersey.

A central focus of the assembly was Defensa del Barrio, a model of community organizing that places directly impacted residents at the forefront of protecting and organizing their own neighborhoods. Through local communication networks, outreach, Know Your Rights education, and mutual aid, families and neighbors are building relationships that allow communities to respond collectively rather than face immigration enforcement alone.

In an interview during the assembly, Amanda Dominguez of New Labor explained the importance of this work: "La defensa del barrio es la comunidad impactada también tomando acción y luchando por su propia libertad."

Dominguez described how neighborhood organizers share information with residents, connect families with resources, and work alongside rapid response teams. These relationships extend beyond responding to ICE activity to ensuring families have support before, during, and after a detention. The assembly also created space for a broader conversation about solidarity across communities. Speakers connected the struggle for immigrant justice with movements against racism, militarization, displacement, and other forms of oppression, emphasizing the importance of building unity across racial, ethnic, and geographic lines.

"There are forces in this country that are trying to divide us and keep us divided so that we will be weak," Larry Hamm from the People's Organization for Progress. "It's going to take the unity of all of us." He continued, "Your struggle is my struggle and my struggle is your struggle. Our struggle is the same struggle."

Speakers connected the struggle against immigration enforcement to broader histories of racial oppression, displacement, militarization, and resistance, emphasizing that the movement must be rooted in solidarity across racial, ethnic, and geographic lines.

Young people, many of them children of immigrants, also shared their experiences of growing up in families shaped by sacrifice, uncertainty, and the constant threat of separation.

One young woman described how her father had been detained in July and urged other young people not to allow fear to overwhelm them. Another attendee, the daughter of Salvadoran immigrants, recalled growing up as the only U.S. citizen in her household, knowing from an early age that her family could be separated by deportation.

Their experiences demonstrated how a new generation is finding its voice in the struggle, carrying forward the sacrifices of their families while helping build the movement that will shape their own futures.

The day also included a collective memorial honoring people who have died in connection with immigration enforcement and detention. As names were read aloud, participants responded together, "¡Presente!" affirming that those who have been lost will not be forgotten.

Yet the assembly was not only about confronting the violence and suffering communities have experienced. It was also about imagining and organizing toward something different. "There was a whole life before ICE," Sireen Sawalha, a Palestinian Author and Activist reminded the assembly. "And I swear to you that there is a whole life with dignity after ICE."

That vision was central to the gathering: an ICE-free New Jersey built not simply through opposition to immigration enforcement, but through the collective power of organized communities capable of caring for, defending, and making decisions about their own futures.

That vision was central to the gathering: an ICE-free New Jersey built not simply through opposition to immigration enforcement, but through the collective power of organized communities capable of caring for, defending, and making decisions about their own futures.

But building that future requires more than a shared vision. It requires organized communities, strong relationships, and the understanding that no single organization or rapid response team can accomplish this work alone. It requires families, neighbors, and organizers recognizing the power they hold when they act together.

"I want people to know that we as people are powerful and we can together keep our community safe and it's going to take everyone. It's going to take allies and it's going to take an impacted community," said Asma Elhuni, an organizer with Resistencia en Acción NJ, during an interview at the assembly.

That collective power is already taking shape across New Jersey, neighborhood by neighborhood, family by family, and relationship by relationship. The work ahead is to deepen those connections, strengthen local organizing, and transform the growing network of families and grassroots organizations into a unified statewide movement capable of acting together.

The message emerging from the Asamblea Popular was clear: Our communities are not waiting to be saved. They are organizing themselves, building their own power, and creating the future they deserve. ¡Solo el pueblo salva al pueblo!

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ICE Out of NJ is a coalition of local grassroots workers' rights and immigrant rights organizations working to end collaboration between New Jersey law enforcement and federal immigration enforcement, and ultimately drive ICE out of New Jersey.