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New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy sparked Republican outrage over recent comments suggesting he and the state’s first lady offered an immigrant with uncertain immigration status the opportunity to stay at their home, but he didn’t actually make the offer and the person never moved in, his spokesperson said Tuesday.
The second term Democratic governor was relaying a conversation he had had with with first lady Tammy Murphy about someone they knew who was legally in the country but worried about their status, his spokesperson Mahen Gunaratna said. The governor had said he suggested inviting the person to stay at their house, but the offer wasn’t made in the end, Gunaratna said.
Murphy’s initial comments came up over the weekend while he was speaking at progressive forum about how his administration could push back against Trump.
“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,” Murphy said. “We said ‘You know what? Let’s have her live at our house above our garage, and good luck to the feds trying to come in and get her.’”
Republicans pounced on the comment. Mario Kranjac, a Republican running to succeed Murphy, said it’s time for immigration officials to pay the governor a visit. Elon Musk, the world’s richest man, and recently confirmed to be a “ special government employee,” has been heading up what he and the White House call the Department of Government Efficiency. In a post on X showing Murphy’s statement, Musk said: “Wow.”
Murphy’s administration has been largely supportive of immigration. Under his tenure, the state attorney general issued guideline limiting cooperation between local New Jersey police and immigration officials. A bill that would make the directive state law is pending in the Legislature, but hasn’t advanced.
It has gotten renewed attention since Trump’s second administration began and immigration officials arrested people in Newark last month. The arrests led immigrant rights advocates to call out “Where’s Governor Murphy?” during a news conference held by Newark’s mayor to deride the immigration enforcement.
Murphy, a wealthy former Goldman Sachs executive who served as an ambassador to Germany during the Obama administration, has a home along the Navesink River in Middletown, New Jersey.
