Protesters Briefly Shut Down NJ Turnpike In Woodbridge Monday

WOODBRIDGE, NJ — A group protesting for undocumented workers who lost jobs in the COVID pandemic briefly shut down the New Jersey Turnpike in the Woodbridge area during Monday evening's commute.

NJ State Police were called to mile marker 97 along the Turnpike north at about 5:30 p.m. Monday for a call of cars in the roadway, blocking traffic, said police.

Mile marker 97 is in Woodbridge Township.

"They got out of their cars for a short time and then departed," said a State Police spokesman Tuesday morning.

He said the caravan was gone by the time State Police troopers got there.

News 12 reported they blocked the Turnpike for a few minutes; NJ 101.5 reported traffic was backed up for about half an hour. You can see video from the protest here: https://newjersey.news12.com/r...

NJ Spotlight reported the caravan was organized by "Y Nosotros Que," an advocacy group for undocumented immigrants in New Jersey. (In Spanish, it means "What about us?") They were demanding that Gov. Phil Murphy give an additional $989 million for undocumented workers who lost their jobs due to the pandemic and forced shutdowns.

"Yesterday, immigrants shut down the NJ Turnpike during rush hour to demand @GovMurphy
allocate COVID recovery funds for undocumented workers who were excluded from stimulus checks and other emergency aid. #YNosotrosQue Join us now: https://njexcludedworkers.com," tweeted Movimiento Cosecha, an advocacy group that says it represents the some 11 million undocumented immigrants currently in the U.S.

It was about two dozen cars that gathered at the Grover Cleveland Service Area in Woodbridge and then drove onto the Turnpike north. There, they briefly stopped in the roadway, waved red flags and held signs, reading “Murphy excludes migrants," according to NJ Spotlight.

“We’ve done a lot. We’ve interrupted (Gov. Murphy) we’ve had protests, we’ve had rallies, but he’s not listening,” said one of the organizers, Reynalda Cruz, according to NJ.com. “He’s been pushing to not hear us. Now he’ll have to listen.”

In New Jersey, undocumented workers have not been allowed to receive federal COVID relief money, such as the COVID stimulus checks and extended unemployment benefits. However, Gov. Murphy did include an additional $40 million for undocumented immigrants that have been excluded in the new 2022 state budget, which he just signed Tuesday.

However, the protesters said that is not enough.

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