Ciattarelli vows to end New Jersey’s sanctuary policies on day one if elected governor

In a televised town hall with Fox News host Sean Hannity on Thursday, New Jersey Republican gubernatorial candidate Jack Ciattarelli revealed which far-left policies his first-day priority would be eliminating if elected governor.

With just five days until Election Day, Ciattarelli is seven points behind his Democratic rival, Rep. Mikie Sherrill, in the deep-blue race in New Jersey. However, while speaking with Hannity in Point Pleasant, New Jersey, Ciattarelli argued that his campaign had momentum that would upset Sherrill and anger the state.

If he wins the race, Ciattarelli told Hannity that his first priority would be to dismantle New Jersey’s sanctuary policies, preventing local and state officials from cooperating with federal immigration enforcement operations.

“Executive order number one, on day one, no town in this state will be a sanctuary city, we will not be a sanctuary state,” Ciattarelli said, as the crowd full of local New Jerseyans applauded.

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“Here’s the good news,” he continued. “Many things [current Democratic Gov. Phil] What Murphy did was by executive order. “They haven’t been enacted by the legislature, which means I can turn them down from day one.”

“Having sanctuary cities and us being a sanctuary state encourages illegal immigration and handcuffs our local police in certain ways; we don’t do that. I will reverse that from day one,” he said, adding, “If a local police chief and mayor want to work together to keep our community safe by partnering with a federal agency, I won’t stand in my way.”

Ciattarelli also announced that he would prioritize eliminating cashless bail, saying the policy “creates a professional criminal who learns how to game the system.”

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Republican Jack Ciattarelli (L) watches as Democrat Mikie Sherrill speaks during the final debate of the New Jersey gubernatorial race on Wednesday, Oct. 8, 2025, in New Brunswick, N.J. (Heather Khalifa/AP)

“Talk to local cops and they’ll tell you about this dynamic known as ‘arrest, release, repeat,’ which is demoralizing for cops,” he explained.

Although Ciattarelli ran unsuccessfully twice for governor of New Jersey, he told Hannity that early voting results showed him “in a really good position to win.”

During the town hall, he also beat Sherrill for refusing to release his military records regarding disciplinary action he faced for his involvement in a cheating scandal at the U.S. Naval Academy. Sherrill claimed that he did not cheat, but that he was excluded from his graduating class because he refused to provide information about those who cheated.

“All he has to do is approve the release of the disciplinary records and we will know why he was disciplined. If what he says is true, the disciplinary records will confirm it, but he will not release them,” he said. “There is a pattern here.”

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New Jersey Republican gubernatorial candidate Jack Ciattarelli joins host Sean Hannity for Fox News’ “Hannity” town hall on October 30, 2024 in Point Pleasant, NJ (Paul Steinhauser – Fox News)

He also criticized Sherrill for the support she received from New York socialist candidate Zohran Mamdani.

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“We called on him to reject that approval, but he didn’t,” Hannity noted, “Just as he would be the most transparent but would never release his maritime records.”

Fox News Digital’s Paul Steinhauser and Dana Blanton contributed to this report.