AS THE GREAT-GRANDDAUGHTER OF IRISH IMMIGRANTS, MEGAN KNOWS WHAT’S AT STAKE AND WHAT CONGRESS NEEDS TO DO TO DEFEND OUR CONSTITUTION AND PROTECT EVERY FAMILY IN NJ-07

Four generations ago, Megan’s family immigrated from Ireland and made their way across New Jersey, settling in Warren County. This family story is not unusual: almost all of us in the United States are immigrants or descendants of immigrants. The Statue of Liberty, one of America’s most enduring symbols, stands in New York Harbor just miles from New Jersey’s 7th Congressional District (NJ-07) as a promise to the world: this country welcomes those who come seeking a better life. 

New Jersey has the second-largest share of immigrant residents in the country after California. One in four New Jersey residents was born in another country. Throughout NJ-07, immigrant families build homes, staff hospitals, work on farms and contribute to all aspects of the economy. In New Jersey, immigration is not a threat to American identity. It is American identity. 

Megan O’Rourke is deeply troubled by an Administration that uses immigrants as a scapegoat to distract from the real pressures facing working families: the rising cost of housing, healthcare, food, and daily life. We must respect the dignity of every life. As Congresswoman, her job will be to make sure due process is followed and that no one’s rights are trampled.

Immigration should not be used as a political wedge issue. Megan O’Rourke will fight to protect the rights of every person in NJ-07, hold federal agencies accountable, and lead the kind of comprehensive reform that brings order, dignity, and fairness to our immigration system.

Blocking the Roxbury Detention Center

In February 2026, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) purchased a 470,000 square foot warehouse off Route 46 in Roxbury Township, Morris County, without notifying local officials, without conducting an environmental review, and over the unanimous opposition of Roxbury’s all-Republican town council. The facility cost taxpayers over $129 million to purchase and will hold up to 1,500 people after massive new investments to redesign the existing warehouse. If completed, it will become the largest immigration detention center in New Jersey and one of the largest on the East Coast. 

This is not a partisan issue. Nobody wants this facility in NJ-07, regardless of party affiliation. The community has raised serious and practical objections: the site lacks adequate sewer and water infrastructure to support a facility of this scale, it sits within a residential area, and it would strain local roads, emergency services, and municipal systems that were never designed to absorb this kind of federal imposition. 

Moreover, New Jersey’s existing immigration detention facilities have a deeply troubling record. A detainee at an existing Newark facility died less than a day after arrival, four others escaped through a crumbling wall, and the Mayor of Newark was arrested during an oversight visit. Congresswoman LaMonica McIver faces up to 17 years in prison for trying to conduct legal, Congressional oversight of the facility. These are not isolated incidents. They are the predictable results of expanding detention capacity without accountability, oversight, or basic standards of humane treatment.

In Congress, Megan will:

• Strip from the One Big Beautiful Bill the supplemental funding that U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) is using to purchase and convert warehouses into detention centers
• Use every legislative tool, including appropriations riders, authorization restrictions, and Congressional notifications to prevent the Roxbury detention center from becoming operational
• Oppose the expansion of private, for-profit detention in New Jersey and support legislation to end federal contracts with private prison operators for immigration detention

Holding DHS Accountable

Since the start of President Trump’s second term, ICE arrests in New Jersey have tripled. Under new federal quotas, immigration officials are directed to make at least 75 arrests per day in New Jersey alone. Across NJ-07, thousands of residents have taken to the streets in peaceful protest, not because they oppose the rule of law, but because they are watching their neighbors’ rights be violated without accountability.

The President cannot and should not embolden federal employees to violate the legal rights of anyone in the United States. The Fourth and Fifth Amendments to the Constitution protect everyone on American soil. No Administration is above the law. Megan O’Rourke would far rather err on the side of protecting civil liberties than surrender constitutional protections for the illusion of safety.

ICE agents have conducted operations in New Jersey while wearing masks and driving unmarked vehicles, making it impossible for residents, local law enforcement, and elected officials to identify them or verify their authority. This is incompatible with democratic accountability. New Jersey’s Immigrant Trust Directive, which draws a clear line between state and local law enforcement and federal civil immigration enforcement, has protected public safety and community trust since 2018. Megan O’Rourke will support efforts to strengthen and codify it at the federal level.

In Congress, Megan will:

• Conduct rigorous oversight of ICE through Congressional hearings, site visits to detention facilities, questions for the record, and public statements on conditions, arrests, and civil rights violations in New Jersey
• Hold ICE accountable for violations of court orders, constitutional rights, and federal law, including investigating and prosecuting crimes and supporting legislation that creates enforceable civil liability for agent misconduct
• Fight any effort to use immigration enforcement as a pretext for racial profiling and codify at the federal level New Jersey’s prohibition on stops, searches, or detentions based solely on actual or suspected immigration status

Serving Every Constituent

Constituent services on immigration are among the most consequential things a member of Congress can do. When a constituent’s family member is detained, when a farmworker does not know their rights, or when a Dreamer fears what the next Executive Order will mean for their future, that person deserves a Congresswoman who will pick up the phone and fight for them.

A single Congressional inquiry can unlock a stalled case. A caseworker who knows the system can mean the difference between a family intact and a family torn apart. Megan O’Rourke will build a constituent services operation that is accessible, responsive, and staffed with people who understand both the immigration system and the communities of NJ-07.

In Congress, Megan will:

• Establish a dedicated immigration casework team in the district office to assist constituents and their families navigating visa applications, green card processes, detention cases, and deportation proceedings
• Host regular community know-your-rights events across NJ-07 so that every resident knows what constitutional protections apply to them regardless of immigration status
• Maintain open lines of communication with local law enforcement, school administrators, and community organizations so that immigration raids can be flagged and responded to quickly

Fixing a Broken System

The United States immigration system has been broken for decades. Both parties share responsibility for the failure to fix it. Republicans have repeatedly blocked bipartisan reform legislation to preserve immigration as a campaign issue. Meanwhile, millions of people live in limbo, families wait years for legal resolution, and the dysfunction of the system is weaponized to justify cruelty.

Megan O’Rourke supports legal immigration: an orderly, fair, and functional system that allows people to come to the United States from all countries through legal channels. She supports a clear path to citizenship for Dreamers, the young people brought to this country as children who have grown up as Americans in every meaningful sense. She opposes the Safeguard American Voter Eligibility (SAVE) Act, which invents a solution to a problem that does not exist, will cost taxpayers money, and will discourage eligible citizens from participating in democracy by burying them in unnecessary bureaucracy.

On asylum, Megan O’Rourke supports building a coalition of allied countries that will accept and process asylum seekers in a fair and humane way while their cases are heard. The current system, which forces people to present themselves at the border with no safe legal pathway, is chaotic and inhumane. A burden-sharing framework with partner nations would bring order to the process without requiring the United States to turn away people fleeing genuine persecution.

Megan O’Rourke also supports firm limits on the use of presidential emergency declarations to circumvent existing immigration law and Congressional authority. The executive branch does not have the power to rewrite immigration policy through emergency orders. Congress must reclaim its constitutional role as the branch that sets immigration law.

In Congress, Megan will:

• Champion a path to citizenship for Dreamers and support comprehensive immigration reform legislation that creates legal, orderly channels for immigration from all countries
• Oppose the unlawful revocation of humanitarian parole for individuals who entered the U.S. legally under Congressionally authorized programs, and support legislation to codify parole protections that no President can unilaterally rescind
• Support development of a multilateral asylum processing framework that distributes responsibility fairly among allied nations, provides safe and humane conditions for people awaiting hearings, and reduces pressure at the U.S. southern border
• Sponsor or co-sponsor legislation to limit presidential emergency powers related to immigration, restoring Congress’s authority to set and oversee immigration law and ending the use of emergency declarations to bypass the legislative process