Thread: N.J.: Immigration Referrals by Police Draw Scrutiny

March 23, 2008
Immigration Referrals by Police Draw Scrutiny
By KAREEM FAHIM

WOODBURY, N.J. — A green-card holder from Guatemala said he was asked about his immigration status last month when he went to pick up his nephew from the West Deptford, N.J., police station.

An illegal immigrant from Mexico was arrested March 5 when the car in which he was a passenger was pulled over for rolling through a stop sign in South Harrison Township, N.J.

Seven months after the state attorney general, Anne Milgram, ordered local police departments in New Jersey to question people they arrest for certain crimes about their immigration status and to report illegal immigrants to federal authorities, the rate of such referrals has nearly doubled.

But immigrants and their advocates say that some people have been unfairly swept up in the dragnet because of overzealous enforcement or confusion over how Ms. Milgram’s directive was supposed to be implemented, creating a chilling effect on some immigrants’ relationship with the police.

“This is imposing an incredible human cost on these immigrants,â€

If some of those towns are not arresting and deporting they are not doing their job...quite simple. illegal is a crime.

They don't even want them to get rid of these scumbags!

[quote]In an interview, Ms. Milgram said the directive had helped keep serious criminals in prison, as federal immigration authorities detained those who had “murdered people, who stabbed people, who were arrested for D.W.I. or who molested kids,â€

Manuel Guzman, an organizer who works with farm workers, said that he was pulled over for ignoring a stop sign in South Harrison, a burg of 2,400 in the southern tip of the state. The officer checked Mr. Guzman’s license, which is normal procedure, but then went a step further, asking his passenger for identification. The passenger, who insisted that he be identified only by his first name, Aurelio, handed the officer a Mexican consular identification and was arrested.

NJ police have always asked for ID of everyone in the car, get over it. A consular card confirms that you are an ILLEGAL ALIEN, duh! Everyone knows that it's not accepted as ID in Mexico, that it's only used by illegal aliens who don't want to use their real names.