NEW: Illegal Alien Fleeing ICE Injures Democrat Mayor’s Wife

A New Jersey immigration enforcement operation turned dangerous Wednesday when a man authorities said was in the country illegally fled ICE officers, sped onto a major highway and crashed into another vehicle, injuring the wife of a Democratic mayor.

According to U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, officers were conducting a targeted operation when the man refused repeated commands and drove away at a high rate of speed.

“After repeated verbal warnings and due to officer safety concerns, ICE officers relied on their training and attempted to safely remove the illegal alien from their car. The illegal alien then proceeded to flee at a high rate of speed and collided with other vehicles,” an ICE spokesperson confirmed to Fox News Digital.

The driver entered U.S. 130 and collided with a Tesla in North Brunswick after allegedly running a red light.

One of the people injured in the other vehicle was the wife of East Brunswick Mayor Brad Cohen.

The crash quickly reignited New Jersey’s long-running political battle over how closely local police should cooperate with federal immigration authorities.

Republican Assemblyman Paul Kanitra blamed the state’s restrictions on local cooperation with ICE and argued that Democratic leaders have refused to acknowledge the public-safety consequences of those policies.

“This is just the latest in a long line of traffic incidents and vehicular incidents that wouldn’t occur if New Jersey didn’t have our sanctuary status that got codified as soon as Gov. Sherrill came into office,” Kanitra told Fox News Digital in an exclusive interview Friday.

🚨#NewsAlert: Illegal in New Jersey Runs From Ice….SMASHES INTO Car Driven by DEMOCRAT MAYOR’S WIFE

On September 2nd, an illegal alien fleeing from a federal US Immigration and Customs Enforcement traffic stop….CRASHED INTO A VEHICLE DRIVEN BY Dr. Penelope Cohen, a physican… pic.twitter.com/bPFN5pQYkQ

— A New Wave Right (@ANewWaveRight) September 7, 2026

“We all fought against it. We told them that this would create chaos, and it seems like Democrats are unable to take accountability for their own actions.”

Gov. Mikie Sherrill signed legislation in March codifying New Jersey’s policy limiting certain forms of state and local cooperation with federal civil immigration enforcement.

Supporters of the policy argue that separating local policing from federal immigration enforcement encourages immigrants to report crimes and cooperate with police. Critics contend that the restrictions make it harder for ICE to locate and arrest people subject to immigration enforcement.

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Kanitra said Democratic officials should examine whether those restrictions contributed to dangerous situations involving people attempting to evade federal authorities.

“Democrats seemingly have an inability to take accountability for their own actions here. They’re unable to even recognize the chaos that they’re creating, and they’re shouting and screaming at everybody else trying to find somebody to blame. It’s somewhat ridiculous,” Kanitra said.

“You kind of reap what you sow,” he said, adding that people in his district have been killed in previous crashes involving immigrants who were in the country illegally.

Kanitra also pointed to a separate case involving an immigrant accused of driving into a family outside a kosher supermarket and killing an infant.

RELATED: NEW: ICE Nabs Hundreds Of Illegal Aliens In One Of The Largest Targeted Operations In Agency History

“They got behind the wheel, and they wound up killing an innocent toddler in the process,” he said, calling the circumstances of the situation “absolutely abhorrent.”

Republican state Sen. Mike Testa also criticized New Jersey’s limits on cooperation with ICE and pointed to efforts by some counties to participate in federal 287(g) agreements.

“I think it has only emboldened illegal aliens to engage in illegal behavior. This illegal alien was stopped lawfully by federal authorities, ran through a red light, fleeing federal authorities and unfortunately ran into the mayor of East Brunswick’s wife.”

Rep. Bonnie Watson Coleman, D-N.J., whose district includes the area where the crash occurred, responded by criticizing ICE.

“Today, it appears an ICE involved car chase resulted in an accident involving the wife of the Mayor of East Brunswick. Abolish ICE,” Watson Coleman tweeted.

Testa sharply rejected that response and argued that responsibility should remain focused on the fleeing driver.

“This is just another example of lawlessness. And sadly, there’s been a stamp of approval from radical leftists like Congresswoman Bonnie Watson Coleman saying ICE should be abolished rather than actually punishing the criminal that put multiple citizens’ lives at risk,” he said.

RELATED: Massive Protests Erupt In Spain Following Illegal Alien Invasion

The broader dispute centers on New Jersey‘s Immigrant Trust Directive and related policies governing when state and local law enforcement may assist federal immigration authorities.

The state says those rules do not prevent police from enforcing criminal laws, complying with judicial warrants or assisting federal immigration authorities in emergency situations.

Republican critics, however, continue to argue that limiting routine cooperation makes immigration enforcement more difficult and can create dangerous situations when federal officers are forced to conduct arrests without local assistance.

“And we believe quite literally that citizenship should have its privileges. I’ve made this comment many times,” Testa said.

“You know, I’m a child of the ’80s — and the old American Express commercial was ‘membership has its privileges’ — well, citizenship should have its privileges,” he said.

The Wednesday crash has now become the latest flashpoint in New Jersey’s escalating immigration fight, with one side blaming the fleeing driver and restrictive cooperation policies, while Democratic officials continue to argue that aggressive federal enforcement itself can endanger communities.

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