- We're now joined by Nedia Morsy, who's director of Make the Road New Jersey.

The website will be up.

Nedia, great to have you with us.

- Thank you so much for the invitation.

- You got it, tell us what the organization is.

- Yeah, so Make the Road is a member-led, grassroots organization with community centers at Elizabeth, Passaic, and Perth Amboy.

The mission is to win dignity and respect for immigrant communities through community organizing, through policy innovation, through transformative education, and we do that work day in and day out at our community centers.

We represent over 7,000 members, majority from Latin American countries, majority are working class people, but together, we have been able to deliver, you know, historic wins for immigrant families and all New Jerseyans across the state, including expanded access to drivers licenses, a $15 minimum wage that included teen workers, the strongest wage theft protections in the entire country.

And that work continues today.

- Nedia, what is the greatest concern you have about the federal government, particularly the federal government agency ICE and their, quote, "mass deportation" effort?

Be as specific as possible, please.

- Yes, I think it's helpful to start with some framing.

So New Jersey has more than two million immigrants.

One million of those New Jersey residents are naturalized citizens.

Half a million New Jersey residents are undocumented.

One in four New Jerseyans have an immigrant family member.

One in six New Jersey children have an immigrant parent.

And the sort of frame, for the moment, that we're in is New Jersey now has the most ICE detention beds on the entire East Coast.

We started the year in January 2025 with 360 beds.

We now have more than 2,000 beds, and we're projected to add an additional 1,500 with the- - Nedia, before you go any further, why is that significant?

- So, you know, the size of the- - That there are 2,000 beds.

Why is that relevant?

- Yes, so these are all privately-run detention centers.

And so, by their very nature, there is an incentive to fill in order to invoice, then to move people quickly, to then bring in more folks, right, 'cause you're turning a profit with however quickly you're turning people in and then turning them out so you can fill the beds again.

So a high concern, right, especially now that we have, you know, ICE agents that have quotas, they have deliverables in order for them to maintain their own work and their own livelihood.

And as a result of that, in the last year in New Jersey, immigration arrests have gone up 400%.

And our state infrastructure is only able to provide representation to 18% of detainees currently.

And we have seen further economic ramifications of detention.

So, you know, in 2021, eviction filings were 44,000.

In 2025, estimates from DCA suggest that, you know, it will be more than, it was more than 100,000.

- Yeah, but Nedia, I know there's a lot of numbers here by the DCA, a lot of jargon here, I believe the Department of Community Affairs, if I'm not mistaken.

But here's a question a lot of people are asking (coughing) wondering right now.

People can question ICE's tactics, how they approach this deportation effort.

When you said New Jersey has an estimated, how many people here who are undocumented?

Is it half a million?

- Half a million, likely more.

- Say someone says, "Look", and you've heard this a million times, but let's try it again.

All the federal government is doing, all the Trump administration is doing through ICE is trying to get those who are undocumented out of the country.

Your response to that?

- I think two things.

The first is the federal government is undermining due process rights and they're undermining the Constitution.

- How?

- What we've seen is that there have been detentions of U.S.

citizens, of folks that are in court proceedings, and so you're seeing hypocrisy in two forms.

The first is people are going to their ICE check-ins, right?

Part of their process as they're pursuing a pathway citizenship.

When they enter the courthouse, the judge is saying that they are not interested in pursuing any action against this person.

And then, when they exit the courthouse, they're being detained by ICE.

And so, in a matter of a couple of square feet, you're watching the hypocrisy of this administration.

Secondly, because so many people are being unlawfully detained, legal providers are not able to file habeas filings as quickly as they can be.

And then, the other piece of this is we can't forget the profit that is being made.

So there's profit being made by putting people in detention centers.

You know, we have sort of created, the administration has come up with a new way to revive Jim Crow, right?

You're moving people in detentions, you're turning a profit, you perhaps have them working and making materials in the detention center and then invoicing again.

And then, we're conducting surveillance on these people.

And I think the thing to remember is the undermining of due process, the mass surveillance is something that is coming for all of us, and not just immigrants.

It's being tested on immigrants, but it is much more expansive.

- So let me try this.

The term data mining is being thrown around a lot.

What exactly is data mining?

And why is it relevant to the issue of the federal government engaged in this mass deportation of those who are here illegally?

And again, I'm not gonna play word games, undocumented, if you are here illegally.

My grandparents came here from Italy.

They went through the process, and I know it's not the same time, I get it, but that means you're here illegally.

It's not a felony, but you're here illegally.

Question, what the heck is data mining?

And what does that have to do with the feds in this deportation effort?

- Yeah, I think, just to your first point, right?

The Trump administration has terminated immigration relief programs.

So you have folks who are here on TPS, who have had that for 20 years.

- There's a lot of jargon.

Not everyone knows what those acronyms mean.

TPS, temporary?

- Temporary protected status.

- Got it.

- You have folks that have, you know, received deferred action.

You have folks that have relief programs.

And in this last year, the Trump administration has eliminated those programs.

- Because?

Because?

- Because he has decided that he wants to terminate it.

And again, you know, these are folks who have already offered all of their information to the United States government.

And again, it's so important to remember very often we talk about tax the rich campaigns and it can sort of seem isolated, but these are not isolated events.

We are using immigration in order to turn massive profits.

- What's data mining?

I get that point, what's data mining?

- So data mining, and Palantir is a perfect example of this, where you have now corporations that are taking massive data sets, right, so culling personal and private information, and then turning that into surveillance equipment, right?

Because, otherwise, you're just collecting all this data, but you're not able to use it into, you know, move it into a way that people can use.

So for example, Palantir is a tech backbone of ICE.

So basically, they've created what it's called the Elite app.

The Elite app is the application that ICE agents use when they're conducting foot patrol.

And so it essentially looks like a Google Maps and has confidence scores on people based on data that's been culled- - That's a lot, I appreciate it.

We're so deep into the weeds.

What is the bottom line?

- I think the issue is that all this data mining, you know, it's not being sectioned out, siphoned off, for immigrants or (indistinct) immigrants.

They're collecting the data on all of us.

They are using this, right, and the federal government uses it for tracking and for surveillance, but that will continue.

The populations that they use a surveillance on will continue to expand unless we draw- - And that's dangerous?

- That's incredibly dangerous.

I mean, you see it in sort of light ways, right?

Where your data is collected and data is mined so that, you know, they can entice you to buy this soap or this shampoo.

But, you know, we've also seen how it's been used harmfully, right?

Where people have been taken off the street and they've been confused for other people.

And that work will continue.

And people have a right to privacy.

All people have a right to privacy.

- Whether they're documented or not?

- Whether they're documented or not.

- Nedia, let's agree this is complex, multifaceted.

People need to better understand it.

We appreciate you joining us, and we'll have you back as this, by the way, 2026 election may impact what moves forward or doesn't move forward in the federal government in terms of immigration policy.

But Nedia leads the organization called Make the Road New Jersey, and we'll continue the conversation.

Nedia, thank you so much.

- Thank you for the time.

- You got it.

Stay with us, we'll be right back.

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