Community Urges Trenton City Council to Address Possible Trenton PD–ICE Collaboration
At the October 21 Trenton City Council meeting, community members and organizers with Resistencia en Acción NJ called on City officials to investigate possible collaboration between Trenton Police Department officers and Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). Their call gained momentum as two council members voiced support for further inquiry into the incidents described.
During public comment, residents of Trenton and Mercer County attended the council chambers, sharing testimony and deep concern over the role of Trenton Police in ICE operations. Speakers emphasized that such collaboration erodes trust and makes immigrant communities feel unsafe.
Resistencia en Acción NJ’s Rapid Response team, which operates a 24/7 hotline to report ICE activity in Mercer County, has documented two separate incidents revealing collaboration between Trenton Police and ICE.
On August 21, police officers arrived at an ICE raid scene, blocked off the area, and arrested organizer Asma Elhuni, who was demanding that ICE agents show a judicial warrant before entering a house.
On September 23, ICE detained a mother on the road while she was driving, then detained a woman caring for her children; Trenton PD accompanied ICE into a home after ICE called on them to do a wellness check on an allegedly abandoned child inside the home. This claim is disputed by organizers, who state that there were adults inside the house and ICE agents entered without a warrant.
“A woman who resided in the home for which we received the call trembled with fear as she told us about how ICE agents and police raided her home. They went through her closets and through her clothes,” reported organizer and board member of Resistencia en Acción, Maral Sahebjame.
“When our team met with Trenton Police Director Steve Wilson to demand accountability, he said his officers were responding to a welfare call,” said Sahebjame. “What we can confirm is that the six-year-old child was not left alone in the home, the welfare call was baseless, and that once they arrived, police were clearly working with ICE officials.”
Several other community members urged the Council to formally place the matter on the agenda for its next meeting to ensure an investigation into Trenton PD’s collaboration with ICE can move forward. Two council members acknowledged the issue and expressed support for reviewing the reported incidents.
“We want there to be a clear directive made that TPD will not collaborate with ICE,” said Councilwoman Jenna Figueroa Kettenburg. “On behalf of my council colleagues, I do not believe that any of them would stand for that,” referring to allowing Trenton police-ICE collaboration.
“I want to remind our [officers] who are allegedly cooperating with ICE that ICE is not your colleague, and they won’t be there to stand up to you when investigations begin — and they will,” said Councilwoman Teska Frisby. “I believe there is a handful that are allegedly cooperating with ICE, and it will be investigated.”
The next Council meeting will be held on Thursday, November 6. Trenton neighbors and Resistencia en Accion organizers will attend again to follow up.
“Together, we made it clear that Trenton must not be a city that aids in tearing families apart,” said Elhuni. “The council heard our call, affirmed their commitment to not assist ICE, and pledged to investigate the police department’s actions. This is what community power looks like.”
To report ICE activity in Mercer County, neighbors can call the Rapid Response Hotline at (640) 466-2386.
