New Jersey Gov Sherrill announces portal for residents to upload videos of ICE

New Jersey Governor Mikie Sherrill, a Democrat, announced that state officials will open a portal that will allow residents to upload photos and videos of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officers conducting federal operations.

Sherrill announced the initiative Wednesday during an appearance on Comedy Central’s nightly comedy news program The Daily Show.

“If you see an ICE agent on the street, pull out your phone, we want to know,” Sherrill said.

“They didn’t come,” the governor continued. “They’re going to take people, they’re not going to tell us who they are, they’re not going to tell us if they’re here legally, they’re not going to check. They’re going to take American citizens. They took a five-year-old child. We want documentation and we’re going to make sure we get him.”

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Sherill said his administration will soon open a portal where New Jersey residents can “upload all their cellphone videos and alert people to local immigration operations.”

The governor’s spokesman, Sean Higgins, said the Sherill administration would release more details in the coming days.

“Keeping New Jerseyans safe is Governor Sherrill’s top priority, and in the coming days, she and Acting Attorney General Davenport will announce additional actions to protect New Jerseyans from federal overreach,” Higgins said in a statement. he said.

Sherrill also said his administration plans to provide information to educate New Jerseyans about their rights in the state.

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New Jersey Governor Mikie Sherrill said his administration would open a portal for New Jersey residents to “upload all their cellphone videos and alert people to immigration operations.” (Eduardo Munoz Alvarez/Getty Images)

New York Attorney General Letitia James opened a similar portal in her state in October, saying state officials would review videos and images uploaded to the portal to determine whether immigration officials violated the law. California officials also opened a portal last month for residents to report possible illegal actions by ICE agents.

Some grassroots groups across the country are also warning community members about reports of ICE activity so immigrants can stay away from the area.

This follows two killings of US citizens by federal immigration officers in Minneapolis this month. Both attacks were recorded by bystanders and sparked unrest in Minnesota and across the country.

Renee Nicole Good was shot and killed by ICE agent Jonathan Ross in Minneapolis on Jan. 7, and Border Patrol agents fatally shot Alex Pretti while recording immigration enforcement operations in the same city on Saturday.

Pretti, a critical care nurse, appears to be trying to help a woman who agents had knocked out, pushed to the ground and beaten when they sprayed her with an irritant, according to video and eyewitness accounts. An agent was then seen removing Pretti’s legally owned firearm from his waistband, and other agents fired several shots, killing him.

The killing of two US citizens by federal immigration officers in Minneapolis this month was recorded by bystanders. (Victor J. Blue/Bloomberg via Getty Images)

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Sherrill also compared ICE to secret police forces he observed in other countries while serving in the Navy.

“We’ve seen people on the street with masks and no insignia. So they’re not responsible at all, they’re hiding from the public — and we’ve seen over and over again that what law enforcement is supposed to do to keep people safe is undermined,” he said Wednesday.

Democrats in Congress and various state legislatures have been trying for months to pass measures that would ban immigration officers from wearing masks to hide their identities, arguing that such legislation is necessary to ensure transparency.