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Briana: Tonight on "NJ Spotlight News."

Tainted tests.

Tens of thousands of drunk driving cases across New Jersey may be tossed out due to faulty police equipment.

Plus, the gloves came off last night where four of the Republicans hoping to be the state's next governor took the stage for a fiery debate.

>> You think the people of New Jersey want to debate to be who loves Donald Trump the most or who loves New Jersey the most?

Briana: The top ice official in New Jersey doubles down on the Trump Administration's aggressive immigration enforcement >> Crackdown.

>>This is a total government approach to ensure that we arrest people that should not be in the U.S. Briana: In closing a loophole in state law so the nursing home residents can get motorized wheelchairs and improve quality of life.

>> I want to go a little further than just a courtyard and hallways.

I want to get out into the community and a power chair would let me do that.

Briana: "NJ Spotlight News" begins right now.

♪ Announcer: From NJPBS Studios, this is "NJ Spotlight News."

With Briana Vannozzi.

Briana: Good evening and thank you for joining us, I'm Briana Vannozzi.

We begin with a few of today's top headlines.

First a nationwide protest against the Trump Administration.

More than 100 people rallied in Trenton today as part of the 5051 movement.

Demonstrations being held in all 50 state capitals across the U.S. in a single day.

Organizers are calling it a grassroots effort to push back against the policies and executive orders that have been carried out by the Trump Administration over the last two weeks.

At the rally in Trenton, some decried anti-LGBTQ rhetoric being used by the president, while authors called out mass deportations and changes to immigration and the controversial agenda proposed by the Heritage foundation called Project 2025 wish the president distanced himself from on the campaign trail but has incorporated into his plans through executive orders.

>> I'm here for everything.

I want to stop Project 2025.

There so many issues in the government and systemic racism hurting everybody.

But at the beginning and end of all that is actually climate change.

With the current regulations the current administration is pulling back, our climate and the earth we live on is in so much danger and I don't think the current administration realizes how if climate change would be addressed, there would be so many less issues.

Briana: Also tonight, roughly 20,000 drunk driving cases could be in question due to potentially faulty breathalyzer tests.

The Attorney General's office made public the records of thousands of DUIs from 2008 to 2016 because they may have been tainted by officers using devices that were not calibrated correctly.

Former State police Sergeant Mark Dennis was in charge of overseeing the equipment and was sentenced in 2020 three to five years in prison and part for failing to maintain their accuracy, making the test results inadmissible in court.

People who were charged with drunk driving during that time will have a chance to challenge their arrest and conviction.

More detailed information can be found on the state Attorney General's website.

Anyone who believes their case should be re-examined is being advised to contact their attorney or public defender along with the Municipal Court administrator where their case was heard.

And democratic congresswoman Bonnie Watson Coleman today moved to formally condemn President Trump Spartans of people involved with the January 6, 2020 one attack on the U.S. capitol.

At a press conference today, Watson Coleman joined with other members of Congress introducing a House resolution condemning the more than 1500 pardons and commutations issued by the president and invited the family of Capitol police officer Brian Sicknick, a New Jersey native, to share their thoughts.

He died the day after the attack following a hospitalization for injuries he sustained.

The official medical examiner's report says his death was due to natural causes.

The 42-year-old suffered two strokes but the report added all that transpired played a role in his condition.

Congress members today said they were outraged president Trump pardoned defenders who were found guilty of violence including assaulting police officers.

But Accenture does not change wiped conditions, it is a formal statement of record.

Among the biggest policy changes that have come from the Trump Administration so far focused on immigration, the president signed at least 10 immigration orders and actions during his first few days in office all to fulfill campaign promises of mass deportations and more border security.

Some are being challenged in the courts.

Others could take years to fully shape, but nearly all have sparked fear in the immigrant community.

Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials tell us that operations have ramped up under the new administration.

Today marked the first deportation flight carrying migrants from the U.S. to Guantanamo Bay where the president has ordered the Department of Homeland Security to expand a detention facility with the capacity to hold up to 30,000 detainees.

It remains unclear whether anyone arrested by ice in New Jersey was on that flight but raids here have left immigrants on edge.

For more I'm joined by New Jersey's icefield director.

Thank you for coming on the show.

Let me ask about the incident in Newark.

A spokesperson from your office maintains this event at a seafood depot in Newark was preplanned.

The fact that it was just a couple of days after President Trump's inauguration was happenstance, these were folks who were being investigated.

Can you comment on that, and how preplanned the event was, and was there a warrant?

>> First of all thank you for having me, appreciate it.

That arrest situation was an ongoing investigation with the Homeland security investigations unit.

They went into the location because of certain allegations and it was a consensual entry based on the owner's consent, or the person who had the authority to allow people into the location.

Briana: But no warrant?

>> That's not a requirement when there is a consensual encounter or consensual access given by the owner.

Briana: Has activity ramped up in the last couple of weeks under the new administration?

I know when we spoke with folks from your office, they say these are targeted operations.

Is that what you maintain?

>> Absolutely.

There is a huge uptick in operations.

We have a lot of assistance from the Department of Justice partners such as ATF, FBI, DEA and U.S.

Marshals Service supplementing the Arrest teams.

We are having this is a total government approach to ensure that we arrest people that should not be in the U.S. illegally, specifically those that are public safety cases, those that are committing crimes , as well as those who have been ordered deported from the United States.

Briana: Just to clarify, activity has ramped up and you are attributing that to more government agencies partnering with you all to carry out operations?

>> They are supplementing our teams and this is all a result of the president's executive order basically on the emergency declared between the Southwest border with respect to immigration.

The executive order enhances or opens the types of cases that we are going after and every operation we go on is a targeted operation.

We know exactly who we are looking for.

We are not just out in the community indiscriminately looking for anyone we think is illegal.

All of these arrests are targeted in terms of we know who we are going after, we know where they live, etc.

Briana: Let me ask about that.

In the final six days of January, ICE nationally, not just in New Jersey, arrested more than 5800 migrants, an average of 973 people per day.

Among all of those people, is it not possible that folks who are not criminals, who did not have crimes committed could have been swept up in that?

>> Yes, absolutely.

If you're not a criminal, we are focusing primarily on those that were ordered deported but were never deported.

We make a case by case assessment at the time but our priority is criminal aliens as well as people who have been ordered deported and never departed.

Briana: Is there a quota?

There's been a lot of talk about ICE issuing a 75 arrests per day quota.

Does that exist?

>> Not that I'm aware of, we don't have a specific number.

Briana: Let me ask about the sensitive places in New Jersey like schools and churches and libraries, places like that that previously had some level of protection.

Are you directing your agents to go into those places to carry out these operations?

What does that look like now?

>> The sensitive location policy basically allows us to enter those places.

It doesn't mean we will be doing that on a routine basis.

We leave that as a last resort, if we have to end there is a specific case for some reason, someone perhaps hiding out trying to take sanctuary.

It's not going to be a routine type of thing, it is just for exceptional cases.

Our policy in the past did not allow us to do any sort of surveillance outside those locations or on other houses, for example on the same block as a church or school where is now the policy has been changed and we can do those surveillance or other operational plea parenting -- plea planning or investigations.

It's not just churches or schools, it's also restricted in the prior years from just operating or do anything around those sensitive locations.

Briana: John Sakkari's is New Jersey's ICE field director.

Thank you for making yourself available.

Federal workers in New Jersey are trying to make sense of executive orders from President Trump mandating them to return to their offices in person five days a week or quit with seven months pay.

Some workers say the confusion and frustration has turned their day-to-day jobs into chaos, while attorneys and union leaders try to figure out whether that offer him the Trump Administration is even legal.

According to the White House, some 20,000 federal employees have already taken the buyouts which has the potential to make the situation harder for those who stay.

Ted Goldberg reports.

Reporter: Federal workers tell us Morel has plummeted after the last few weeks.

>> Confusion and anxiety.

>> The federal workforce is scared right now.

Reporter: Donald Trump campaigned on a promise to shrink the federal government and one ways trying to do that is by offering seven months of severance pay to any employee who resigns by Thursday.

Angela D Geronimo is the local president of the new -- union supporting 570 Social Security office workers and she says fewer workers will make it much harder for New Jerseyans to get the benefits they work for.

>> The public comes to us and we can't process what they need right here, timely.

That adds to their anxiety and it creates a stressful atmosphere for all of us.

>> These attacks on the government will hurt the American public.

Reporter: David Gonzalez is the national vice president for AFG, the largest union for federal workers.

He agrees mass resignations or future layoffs would be catastrophic.

>> This would deplete our already shortstaffed government, because we are in need of staffing and the VA Hospital's.

Reporter: The 2 million or so federal employees have been given the option of resigning or committing to work in person five days a week.

AFG is suing over this thing requirements like that are illegal after the union signed a labor contract guaranteeing telework for some employees.

>> We have provisions that were lawfully negotiated and we don't know if that is going to be something that is going to stand.

>> With what's going on in Washington, the courts at this point are the only bulwark against that type of behavior and that's why you are seeing lawsuits being filed.

Reporter: Mr. Ethics has practiced law for more than 40 years.

He says Elon Musk's tactics are very likely illegal since he's treating the federal government in the same way he treated Twitter after buying it.

A big difference is government employees have much more protection than their counterparts in the private sector.

>> The idea going back to the 1800s was to try to dissect or pull away politics and political issues from a meritocracy, and they are saying basically you cannot have an actor like Elon Musk jump in and basically disrupt all of these layers and layers of worker protection.

Reporter: The so-called fork in the road letter, named after its subject line that was also used at Twitter says we will insist on excellence at every level.

Our performance standards will be updated to reward and promote those that exceed expectations.

What does that mean?

>> I have no idea.

>> I don't know what that means.

Right now it's just a jumble of words.

Reporter: There's also a question of whether or not it is illegal to offer seven months of severance pay when the federal government is only funded through the middle of March.

>> How can the president offer this type of buyout without going to Congress first?

We are warning our employees to hold the line and be careful what you agree to.

Reporter: New Jersey Attorney General Matt plaque in his warning employees about resigning and about Elon Musk in general.

As part of an open letter, he says President Trump has allowed an unelected billionaire with no constitutional authority to intimidate the civil servants who keep our government running in an attempt to push them out of their jobs.

Federal workers have protections that do not change when a new president takes office.

New Jersey has tens of thousands of federal workers with an uncertain future ahead of them.

For NJ Spotlight News, I'm Ted Goldberg.

Briana: It was already a crowded field and now one more contenders jumping into the fray.

Former Englewood Cliffs Mayor Mary O'Quinn Jack has joined the race for the Republican nomination for governor.

The self proclaimed forever Trumper is an attorney and venture capitalist who said he would follow in the footsteps of President Trump and Elon Musk if elected.

But he announced his candidacy too late to participate in a GOP debate that was hosted last night.

Which might not be a bad thing.

The fiery event between the front runners turned into a glove soft dogfight where little policy was discussed.

Political correspondent David Cruz reports.

>> He paid himself $65,000.

>> Finished.

>> I have to be honest, you are embarrassing yourself tonight.

Reporter: They came looking for a fight and they got one.

Republicans vying for the gubernatorial nominations shouted, insulted and generally argued their way through their first joint debate.

>> Alright, I'm taking over right now.

Joey Fox is next.

You guys have got to stop interrupting.

Reporter: What polling there has been on this race suggests that the former assemblyman in his third race for governor and the former morning radio show host have the highest name recognition will Senator John Bramnick and Former Senator editor came in trying to make an impression.

>> Do you think the people of New Jersey want the debate to be who loves Donald Trump the most or who lives in the most?

>> The only way to fix New Jersey is by doing something different.

I'm different.

Reporter: While the candidates saved plenty of bile for Governor Murphy, they were also forced to address policy issues and the answers seemed intent on showing Republican voters just how conservative >> The candidates could be.

>>>> I'm not ashamed.

I'm pro-life and I stand by that.

I do not agree with abortion being used as a form of birth control when we have so many options available.

>> I am pro-choice with a strong feeling about late term abortions, I do not support but I am pro-choice.

>> I've always supported a woman's right to choose.

What I also support is a bill introduced by our most conservative senators called the paintbrush a bill that says no abortions after five months of pregnancy with reasonable exceptions.

>> We already have the most access to abortions, we are the highest abortion state as a per capita around the country.

Reporter: There was also discussion about affordable housing and New Jersey transit where there was mostly agreement, although solutions varied.

>> Clearly we should not be telling municipalities you need to build this many units in your town.

That is really poor democratic planning.

>> We should not be building any affordable housing in an area that doesn't have the transportation or the jobs or the water infrastructure, energy infrastructure, transportation.

We have those places, they are called cities.

>> I believe the Turnpike, Parkway and transit should be under one authority, the Garden State Transportation Authority with people appointed by me that know what they're doing to get the job done.

Reporter: The candidates agreed on ending diversity, equity and inclusive initiatives and giving parents more direct input into school issues while funneling more state aid to suburban schools under a new school funding formula.

They all said that they support the president's mass deportation initiatives and would all, even the heretofore anti-Trump Bramnick, to invite President Trump to campaign for them.

>> I do it because I respect the office of the presidency.

He hasn't done just bad stuff.

He's done some good stuff.

I'm not his biggest fan but when a president does something that's good for New Jersey, I will support him.

Reporter: That was newsworthy for many observers.

Also of note, Bill Spiezio saying he will serve just one term of governor if elected and Jack Ciattarelli: For articles of impeachment to be drawn up against Governor Murphy for allegedly harboring an undocumented resident in his home, something the governor has walked back in recent statements.

The candidates will meet two more times before the primary just over four months away.

I'm David Cruz, "NJ Spotlight News."

Briana: Finally tonight, the invisible value of a wheelchair.

For those that don't need one, it's easy to see it as a piece of equipment or convenience.

But for individuals with disabilities, wheelchairs our lifeline to their independence.

Yet a loophole in New Jersey's health insurance laws have been blocking people in need of motorized wheelchairs from getting them, specifically if they live in a nursing home.

As Raven Santana reports, a bill moving through Trenton would finally close that gap and a lack of accessibility it has caused.

>> The bill is released as amended.

Reporter: The Senate health, human services and senior citizens committee unanimously voted in favor of advancing legislation that would require Medicaid coverage of motorized wheelchairs of nursing facility residents.

Passing this bill is a game changer for those who rely on their wheelchair for independence.

>> I took care of my mom who had been in long-term nursing facilities, so I know how it is to feel independent when you have been someone who's independent all your life.

Reporter: Currently New Jersey Medicare covers the cost of a motorized wheelchair but there's one problem.

For residents of nursing facilities, that decision is made at the discretion of the facility.

It's a loophole the bill aims to fix.

>>>> Senate Bill 3438, what it does is it requires these managed-care organizations to provide a power wheelchair to a nursing home resident, simply if it is prescribed by their doctor.

Why would you need something else?

If you have a prescription for it, why should there be some private company standing in the way between you, your health and what your doctor has prescribed?

Reporter: Jonathan said worth is the president and CEO of more than walking, a nonprofit serving people with disabilities and spinal cord injuries.

He started the nonprofit after becoming paralyzed will of his arms after he fell off a 70 foot cliff in northern India more than 19 years ago.

He says for so many of those who rely on wheelchairs for independence and freedom, it also means a hefty price tag.

>> The cost of a power wheelchair is maybe $30,000 to $40,000 or more.

The cost of a lightweight manual chair can be $5,000 to $6,000 or more.

These are lightweight titanium shares for aluminum chairs.

The maintenance required to maintain them also cost money.

We cannot afford these out-of-pocket.

We cannot afford to maintain these out-of-pocket so we rely on insurance to deliver shares and repairs to those chairs when we need them.

>> I want to go a little further than just a courtyard or the hallways.

I want to get out into the community and a power chair would let me do that.

I've been waiting three and a half years to do the.

I've only been in the outside world once on a field trip to a Chinese restaurant that was sponsored by the group here.

Three and a half years of not going to a supermarket, a park, any place outside.

I'm very anxious to get my life going.

Reporter: Larry Lindstrom has had his motorized wheelchair for six months.

He became paralyzed from the chest down after he was involved in a car accident in May 2021.

He says before he got approval from the power chair, he was sometimes stranded in his room because he had to rely on nursing facility staff to push him around.

While he's happy to have finally received his motorized wheelchair, he doesn't want anyone to go through what he did, which is why he says this legislation needs to pass.

>> If this legislation doesn't pass, it interrupts that whole chain and I don't want to see people spending another three years virtually in bed like I did.

Reporter: The bill was advanced in an 8-0 boat and moves to the budget and Appropriations Committee.

I'm Raven Santana.

Briana: That will do it for us tonight.

Before Rico, a reminder, you can download the "NJ Spotlight News" podcast so you can listen any.

I'm Briana Vannozzi.

For the entire team at "NJ Spotlight News" thank you for being with us, have a great night and we will see you back here tomorrow.

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