Update: After the publication of this story, news broke that Trump’s “border czar,” Tom Homan, will push to have Gov. Murphy prosecuted if he’s indeed harboring an illegal alien above his garage. The headline of this story was changed accordingly, while the body remains unchanged. See Homan’s comments here.
(Julianna Frieman, Headline USA) Gov. Phil Murphy, D-N.J., apparently admitted to a crime over the weekend when he bragged about harboring a female illegal immigrant. But on Monday, he said his claim was “misinterpreted.”
🚨 New Jersey Dem Gov. Phil Murphy BACKPEDALS on claim he is housing an illegal migrant above his garage. pic.twitter.com/NHtBbOV6JG
— Julianna Frieman (@JuliannaFrieman) February 4, 2025
As the Trump administration facilitates mass deportations across the U.S., Murphy joined a group of ICE-bashing leftists on Saturday at Montclair State University, where he said that he was actively defying the federal government by hiding an illegal alien in his home.
“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,’” Murphy said.
“And good luck to the feds coming in trying to get her,” he added.
After Murphy’s comments received media attention, the governor’s representative suggested that Murphy’s claims were misleading, according to the New York Post. Murphy was reportedly referring to a legal resident in his orbit who was just worried about Trump’s illegal migrant crackdown, the governor’s representative claimed.
Murphy’s representative told the outlet that “no one’s ever lived in the home” with the illegal status that Murphy described.
Murphy’s claim about housing a female above his garage overshadowed some of the other inflammatory comments he made Saturday, such as when he parroted the Democrat talking point comparing Immigration and Customs Enforcement raids to Nazi Germany.
“The Germans in the ‘20s and ‘30s got tired, they got sick of fighting, and look at the price we paid,” the New Jersey leader said, as reported by the Post.
Murphy called for “an intensity” from Democrats against Trump’s agenda, complaining that voters from his party did not turn out “against this guy” enough to stop Trump’s second term.
“I mean, my God, it’s not like we’re wondering what he’s gonna be like,” the governor said. “We know what he’s like, and we can’t let that happen again ever, ever, ever.”
Julianna Frieman is Deputy Editor of Headline USA. She is also an author at the Daily Caller, The Federalist, and the American Spectator. Follow her on X at @JuliannaFrieman.
