Amid a growing crackdown on immigration by the Trump Administration over the past year, Gov. Phil Murphy is seeking to provide increased protection for those being targeted.

Last week, the New Jersey Democrat said he was committed to the creation of a state Office of Immigrant Protection, following the arrests of two Indonesian Christians who were taken into custody in Middlesex County by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents on Thursday, as the men were dropping their daughters off for school.

The governor's office would not provide details of the mission of the new office, but said it would be looking to increase the availability of legal representation.

"The Office of Immigrant Protection will serve as a single point of contact for any New Jersey resident facing detention or deportation, with a focus on expanding access to legal services to these residents," said spokesman Dan Bryan.

Immigration advocates here have long been pressing the state to provide representation for those in detention, and are hopeful the governor's moves are steering New Jersey in that direction.

In a letter to Murphy on Monday, more than 50 legal organizations, former immigration judges, law professors, and faith and labor groups urged the establishment of a state program to provide counsel to detained individuals who cannot afford it.

"Access to counsel is a matter of due process," said Farrin Anello, senior staff attorney for the American Civil Liberties Union of New Jersey. "The federal government is always represented by counsel in immigration court. When an unrepresented person is forced to argue complex issues of immigration law against a trained government lawyer, this leads to absurd and unfair results."

In New York, Gov. Andrew Cuomo last year announced he would allocate money to create a legal defense fund to ensure all immigrants have access to representation. Several cities across the country have also been putting together programs to provide attorneys to those being held in detention.

Anello said the aggressive stance by the Trump Administration on detention and deportation "has made the need for representation more urgent than ever. "

Unlike defendants in criminal court, undocumented immigrants in this country who challenge their deportation have no right to an attorney if they cannot afford one. In a report last year for Seton Hall's Immigrants' Rights and International Human Rights Clinic, law professor Lori Nessel found that nearly 70 percent of those detained in New Jersey in immigration removal proceedings have no representation when they face a judge.

"The access to counsel is so much less for the population that's detained. They can't work. They have no contacts. Plus we have a real shortage of pro bono counsel," she said, referring to attorneys who volunteer their services.

Most of those in detention without an attorney ultimately get deported, Nessel added.

Critics say immigrants here without authorization should not be provided with any assistance. But advocates say immigration law is complicated and deportation is not always warranted, noting that some may have valid asylum claims or legal challenges to a deportation order.

Susan Roy, a former immigration judge and one of those pushing to make legal aid available, said the lack of representation causes significant delays in the court proceedings. At the same time, she added many who may have a legal basis to avoid deportation have no understanding of how to prepare their applications, or obtain the evidence needed to buttress their case.

According to the letter sent to Murphy, 7,260 individuals were detained in New Jersey in 2015 for civil immigration violations, and two-thirds fought their deportation without legal counsel. Only 14 percent of detained immigrants in New Jersey were able to avoid deportation without legal representation.

Nessel and others could not say how much a legal assistance program for detainees would cost, but claim it would save on detention expenses and allow people to work while awaiting a resolution of their cases.

"There are huge costs when parents are deported and children are left without their parents," she added.

New Jersey will also join more than a dozen other states in a lawsuit that challenges President Trump over his decision to end a program that allowed undocumented people brought to the U.S. as children to avoid deportation.

Ted Sherman may be reached at tsherman@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @TedShermanSL. Facebook: @TedSherman.reporter. Find NJ.com on Facebook.