New Jersey Governor Under Fire for Bragging About Harboring Illegal Migrant, Faces Calls for Resignation, Possible Criminal Charges

Political officials in New Jersey are calling for Governor Murphy to resign and even face federal charges after he flagrantly admitted over the weekend that he is housing an undocumented immigrant at his family home before daring ICE agents to knock on his door.“Considering that he’s admitted to violating federal law, he’s a sworn officer of the state of New Jersey. In terms of being the governor, he violated his oath,” former Mayor of Englewood Cliffs, Mario Kranjac, who recently entered the GOP race for the upcoming NJ Gubernatorial election, told The New York Sun. “He should resign. Very simple.”The startling admission was made at an event at Montclair State University held by the group “Blue Wave New Jersey” on Saturday during a broader discussion of illegal immigration and transgender issues under the new Trump administration.“I don’t want to get into too much detail, but there’s someone in our broader universe whose immigration status is not yet at the point that they are trying to get it to, and we said, ‘you know what? Let’s have her live at our house above our garage,'” the Governor said, recalling his conversation with his wife, Tammy Murphy.“Good luck to the Feds coming in to try to get her.”Mr. Kranjac says that he believes Mr. Murphy is working under the assumption that he is above the law.“It’s endemic of being a political elite. They just think that the laws don’t apply to them. They could do whatever they want,” he said. “I guess he was in front of a very liberal audience because he felt very comfortable saying all that. He knew it was being recorded, which is not a smart move on his part.”Staffers for Mr. Murphy scrambled to save face after his comments saying had been “misinterpreted.”New Jersey Assemblyman Erik Peterson has also spoken out against Mr. Murphy’s comments and said he should face repercussions if he’s violating the law by harboring an illegal immigrant at his home.“The Governor evidently thinks, for some reason, he’s above the law. And I’m sure that’s because he believes that since he’s uber-rich and the governor of New Jersey, that he’s untouchable,” Mr. Peterson told the Sun. “Everybody in this country is an equal, and especially when it comes to the law, and he’s no different. And when he does this, he sends a message that it’s okay to break the law if you don’t like a law.” “Just because you don’t like something doesn’t mean that you get to ignore it.”The assemblyman also believes that the governor may be exceeding his authority.“He took an oath of the office,” Mr. Peterson said. “He put his hand on the Bible and put his other hand up, and before God and his fellow New Jerseyans, he promised that he would obey the laws, and he’s not doing that.”On Monday, the Trump Administration’s border tsar Tom Homan said on Fox News that he vows to “look into” Mr. Murphy’s remarks to see if he is in violation of federal law.“I think the governor is pretty foolish saying what he said because I’ve gotten a hold of it. We won’t let it go. We’ll look into it,” he said during an interview with Sean Hannity. “Then, if he’s knowingly harboring and concealing an illegal alien, that’s a violation of Title 8, United States Code 1324. I will seek prosecution, or the secretary will seek prosecution.” “Maybe he’s bluffing. If he’s not, we’ll deal with that.”Officials with Mr. Murphy’s office did not immediately return requests for comment.

New Jersey Governor Under Fire for Bragging About Harboring Illegal Migrant, Faces Calls for Resignation, Possible Criminal Charges

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