New Jersey Gov. Mikie Sherrill urged residents to record U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents operating in their neighborhoods and said her administration will launch a state “portal” to collect and share those videos, according to accounts of her interview on The Daily Show this week.
“If you see an ICE agent in the street, get your phone out,” Sherrill, a Democrat who took office Jan. 20, said during the sit-down with host Desi Lydic.
Sherrill said the portal would allow New Jerseyans to “upload all their cell phone videos and alert people” about local immigration operations, while acknowledging few specifics about how it would be built or what it would cost.
During the interview, Sherrill alleged that federal agents “will pick people up” without identifying themselves and claimed agents “pick up American citizens,” including a “five-year-old child” — assertions she did not substantiate during the segment.
Sherrill’s office did not provide detailed parameters for the database when asked by reporters, but a spokesperson said additional steps are coming. “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,” spokesperson Sean Higgins said in a statement. “We want documentation, and we are going to make sure we get it.”
Sherrill also said her admin will distribute information to educate New Jersey residents on their rights
Florida Governor Ron DeSantis shared the clip on X, saying, “When Biden refused to enforce immigration law, we were told that states couldn’t enforce those laws because it was a federal function.
Now, when Trump is trying to enforce federal immigration law, these same people say it’s fine for states to obstruct and sabotage the carrying out of this same federal function.”
Watch the clip below:
When Biden refused to enforce immigration law, we were told that states couldn’t enforce those laws because it was a federal function.
Now, when Trump is trying to enforce federal immigration law, these same people say it’s fine for states to obstruct and sabotage the carrying… https://t.co/kWF95x7Ivz
— Ron DeSantis (@RonDeSantis) January 30, 2026
NJ Gov. Mikie Sherrill to launch ‘portal’ for uploading videos of ICE: ‘Get your phone out’ https://t.co/N0rRe84Kcj pic.twitter.com/XvSvSmEbK4
— New York Post (@nypost) January 29, 2026