New Jersey — 11th District

Analilia Mejia’s stunning upset in New Jersey’s 11th Congressional District — a traditionally moderate, upper-middle-class suburban area — surprised political analysts nationwide.

Against the backdrop of masked ICE agents’ brutal attacks on immigrants and U.S. citizens alike, Mejia ran on an unabashedly pro-immigrant platform and won an extremely competitive primary in a very crowded field with a fraction of the money her opponents raised.

The daughter of immigrants from Colombia and the Dominican Republic, Mejia drew attention for conducting regular ICE watch trainings and frequently joining grassroots efforts to aid detained immigrants at Delaney Hall, the largest ICE detention center on the East Coast.

Mejia made immigration the center of her campaign by challenging voters to consider whether the country should spend billions on a masked paramilitary that separates families while cutting health care funding.

Not only did she call for the abolition of ICE, but she also presented voters with a vision of a United States where our rights are upheld and our dignity is respected.

Mejia’s winning pro-immigrant platform demands Democratic introspection. After all, New Jersey’s 11th District has not always been a bastion of progressivism and pro-immigrant sentiment.

For decades, Democratic and Republican candidates ran — and won — by antagonizing immigrants. During the 2000s, there was a 287(g) agreement — which deputized local police to enforce federal immigration law — in place in the district that allowed police to actively collude with ICE.

The former representative from the district, now Gov. Mikie Sherrill, took a moderate stance on immigration throughout her tenure,voting to increase ICE’s budget and in favor of restrictive immigration laws.

Mejia’s win in this historically moderate district presents the clearest electoral picture to date of how rapidly the Democratic base has moved to support candidates who are militantly pro-immigrant and anti-ICE.

A recent national poll found that a whopping 93% of Democrats believe ICE has gone too far. Seventy-three percent of Democrats support abolishing ICE. For comparison, only about55% of Democrats supported abolishing ICE in a 2019 poll.

In the 11th District, while the Democratic primary candidates opposed ICE, the question that plagued voters was who can we trust to stand up to this administration?

Millions of dollars in AIPAC ads attacked the leading candidate, former Rep. Tom Malinowski, not for his position on Israel, but for his support of ICE funding.

Mejia’s campaign raised the least money of any competitive candidate but attracted an overwhelming number of volunteers and provided the strongest vision for voters.

Democratic voters in the towns Mejia won consistently cited former President Donald Trump’s attacks on immigrants as their top issue, according to conversations with Make the Road Action, a progressive advocacy group.

For example, 30% of voters we spoke with in Belleville and Bloomfield — towns that Mejia won with overwhelming support — ranked Trump’s attacks on immigrants as their top concern.

A Latina voter we met while knocking on doors in Belleville shared that, despite being a U.S. citizen, she feared ICE might arrest her because of her accent.

Moderate Democrats should abandon outdated thinking on immigration. Any hint of a position supportive of ICE or the Trump administration can be an Achilles’ heel for Democrats, even in a moderate district.

Democrats must be brave — there is an opportunity this year to run on a platform that is not only about dismantling ICE, but also one that articulates a vision of what a country that welcomes immigrants can be.

This is a vision Democrats can act upon should they take back power. Accountability for ICE is only part of the solution. We need a stable immigration system that guarantees rights and protections, strengthens our shared economic and civic life, lifts wages, and counters corporate exploitation.

Voters deserve to hear this full vision. Instead, they are watching a heinous reality — executions of U.S. citizens and immigrants, and the occupation of our cities by masked ICE goons.

Democratic voters understand this viscerally — if we do not stop ICE now, we risk a permanent and dangerous paramilitary force. With her anti-ICE platform, Mejia’s victory delivered a clear message to Democrats — fight back against ICE’s attacks on our communities, or lose.