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FREEHOLD, NJ — Mayor Michael Wilson is calling on county and municipal law enforcement agencies to act uniformly in carrying out the state attorney general's directive last month on reporting suspected illegal immigrants charged with serious crimes.
The mayor, in a prepared statement, told a Borough Council meeting Tuesday that he has spoken with Police Chief Mitch Roth, who will meet with the New Jersey and Monmouth County Chiefs of Police associations and request a summit with the county Prosecutor's Office, the Sheriff's Department and other jurisdictions similarly affected by the directive.
Wilson said Roth is requesting that Monmouth County Prosecutor Luis A. Valentin review the guidelines to ensure the attorney general's directive is implemented consistently by all municipalities in the county and answer any questions.
The chief also is requesting that Valentin review Section 287(g) of the federal Immigration and Nationality Act, which empowers trained nonfederal police agencies to enforce immigration law, and recommend whether such a program is suitable or appropriate for municipal or regional law enforcement agencies or a combination of both, according to Wilson.
Roth on Thursday said he has been in contact with the Prosecutor's Office about a meeting and that his request is "moving up the chain of command." He also said he just got back from a meeting with the New Jersey Chiefs of Police Association and noted a meeting of the Monmouth County Chiefs of Police Association is coming up later this month.
Lazaro Cardenas, deputy director of the Monmouth County chapter of the Latino Leadership Alliance, said the alliance is monitoring the directive closely and wants to make sure it is not being used for racial profiling.
"That is not the intent of this directive, and the attorney general made that clear," he said, noting that safeguards are in place for immigrants and that they can be stopped and asked for their status only under specific conditions.
Wilson said the borough continues to comply with the directive that New Jersey Attorney General Anne Milgram issued on Aug. 22. It mandates that police ask about the immigration or citizenship status of suspects charged only with indictable crimes or driving while intoxicated, as part of the booking process. Moreover, the mandate requires officers who believe a suspect is in the country illegally to contact Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
The directive "requires inquiry and notification as to immigration status, but does not call for detention of a person suspected of being in the country illegally, unless so notified by ICE to detain the individual," Wilson said in the statement. He also noted the directive mandates that no inquiry be made or investigation commenced into the immigration status of any victim, witness, potential witness or person who has requested or is receiving police assistance.
On the issue of Section 287(g), Wilson noted Thursday that is a detention program and said for it to be pursued, the county needs to be involved. He said a small town like Freehold, with only a couple of holding cells, does not have the facilities to detain individuals, but the county does, specifically the Monmouth County Correctional Institution in Freehold Township.
"287(g) is a tool that I don't think will help Freehold Borough in any way," Cardenas said, noting that the kinds of offenses with which the borough is dealing are things such as overcrowding and 287(g) is used for felonies.
But, on Aug. 27, five days after Milgram's directive was issued, Freehold police arrested an individual on charges of aggravated assault, an indictable crime, questioned the person's status and then provided the information obtained to federal authorities for review in accordance with the directive, according to Wilson.
The directive followed the execution-style killings of three college students Aug. 4 in a Newark schoolyard. Police identified one of the perpetrators as a 28-year-old illegal immigrant from Peru.
What may have followed from that crime, Wilson noted, is some light at the end of the tunnel for communities like Freehold, which has been trying to fight illegal immigration and had been sued in federal court by an immigrants-rights group.
"It's got to be done correctly," he said of the directive's implementation. "We are also dealing with human beings. We don't want this to become a situation where people are abused, but if they are arrested for felonies, then you go to the next level."
Joined: Aug 27, 2007 Posts: 2331 Location: Pennsylvania
Posted: Fri Sep 07, 2007 10:35 pm Post subject:
"the Latino Leadership Alliance, said the alliance is monitoring the directive closely and wants to make sure it is not being used for racial profiling."
I wonder how long it will be before the LATINOS are telling us how many squares of toilet paper we are allowed to use???????????????
LATINOS are becoming SO OBNOXIOUS that a lot of people who have never been biased, are going to start despising them.
Joined: Oct 24, 2005 Posts: 1749 Location: Sewell, NJ
Posted: Fri Sep 07, 2007 11:10 pm Post subject:
CitizenJustice wrote:
"the Latino Leadership Alliance, said the alliance is monitoring the directive closely and wants to make sure it is not being used for racial profiling."
I wonder how long it will be before the LATINOS are telling us how many squares of toilet paper we are allowed to use???????????????
LATINOS are becoming SO OBNOXIOUS that a lot of people who have never been biased, are going to start despising them.
Funny you mention that. For all the latinos who scream about discrimination and racism, the truth is it doesn't exist.
In fact almost all latinos (legal and illegal) where I live are relatively new arrivals to the country who have had the red carpet rolled out to them. _________________ Free Ramos and Compean NOW!
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Great article Zeezil!
