Immigration enforcement operations have sharply escalated across New Jersey since late June 2026, with advocates reporting a doubling of calls to tracking hotlines and increased street stops, vehicle stops, and workplace arrests in cities including Passaic, Harrison, North Bergen, Hackensack, Plainfield, and Newark. The surge coincides with a national Trump administration push to ramp up arrests and includes increasingly aggressive tactics such as unmarked vehicle stops, broken windows during operations, and detention of multiple people from single vehicles. Immigration attorney Mustafa Cetin noted that enforcement has expanded beyond prior strategic targeting to detain people regardless of criminal history. The escalation comes after Congress approved an extra $70 billion for ICE in June and the agency hired hundreds of additional officers.