NJ Mayor Demands Sanctuary Rollback After Alleged Illegal Immigrant Kills Baby in Parking Lot Crash

A New Jersey mayor is demanding her state scrap its sanctuary policies after an illegal immigrant with a standing deportation order allegedly ran down a mother and her two young children in a grocery store parking lot, killing a 9-month-old boy.

Jackson Township Mayor Jennifer Kuhn called on the Township Council to pass a resolution demanding an end to the state's Immigrant Trust Directive, arguing the Aug. 28 crash shows what happens when local police are barred from cooperating with federal immigration authorities.

"If our police pull somebody over and they're undocumented ... they can't call the federal agencies, they can't call ICE. That needs to change," Kuhn said in an interview Thursday. "Condolences at this point are not enough. At this point, leadership needs to step in. And we have to do something."

A Family Outing Ends in Tragedy

Authorities say Maria Cobon-Guzman, a 20-year-old Guatemalan national who did not have a driver's license, struck a mother pushing a stroller carrying her 9-month-old son and 5-year-old daughter in the parking lot of a kosher grocery store in Jackson on Aug. 28. The infant died. The mother and the 5-year-old were critically injured.

Cobon-Guzman was charged with manslaughter. Prosecutors also charged Ariadna Lazaro-Flores, an illegal immigrant from Mexico, alleging she allowed Cobon-Guzman to drive her vehicle even though she knew the woman had no license. Lazaro-Flores faces a charge of endangering the welfare of an incompetent person.

A Removal Order That Was Never Enforced

Federal records show an enforcement system that repeatedly failed to act before the crash. Both women illegally entered the United States during the Biden administration. Lazaro-Flores crossed the border five times in October 2023 alone and was removed each time, according to the Department of Homeland Security.

Cobon-Guzman entered once in October 2023 but was released unvetted into the country's interior. On July 31 of this year -- less than a month before the crash -- an immigration judge issued an order of removal against her. She was still walking free when authorities say she got behind the wheel in Jackson.

The case underscores the divide between the Trump administration's border crackdown, which has driven crossings to record lows and removals sharply higher, and sanctuary jurisdictions that continue to shelter illegal aliens who slip through.

Sanctuary Rules in the Crosshairs

Kuhn's frustration is aimed squarely at New Jersey's Immigrant Trust Directive, first implemented under former Gov. Phil Murphy in 2018. The policy generally bars police from asking about a person's immigration status, prevents them from notifying U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) when someone is released from custody, and restricts sharing non-public personal information for civil immigration enforcement.

Current Gov. Mikie Sherrill, a Democrat, went further this year. She signed legislation in March codifying the directive into state law and issued a February executive order that keeps ICE agents from using nonpublic areas of state property to stage or conduct operations without a judicial warrant.

Kuhn said Jackson is not alone in pushing back. "I know that there's other towns around in Ocean County and in other counties that are also doing the same," she said. "Something needs to change."

Supporters of the sanctuary rules argue they build trust between immigrant communities and local police, encouraging victims and witnesses to report crimes without fear of immigration scrutiny. The state attorney general's office defended the directive, noting that jails and prisons can still notify ICE when someone charged with or convicted of certain violent or serious crimes is released.

For Kuhn, that distinction misses the point: the system did nothing to stop a woman with a final removal order from living freely in her township -- until it was too late for a 9-month-old boy.

What Happens Next

The Jackson Township Council is expected to take up the mayor's resolution in the coming weeks, and similar efforts are brewing in neighboring Ocean County towns. The bigger question is whether Sherrill and Democratic lawmakers in Trenton will budge on policies they have spent two years expanding.

For Kuhn, the calculus is simple. "These issues shouldn't happen whether you're illegal or legal," she said. "But the problem is that we can't hold them accountable if they're not documented and they're illegal aliens."