Morristown to begin deputizing police officers to act as immigration agents
by Tanya Drobness/The Star-Ledger
Thursday August 27, 2009, 6:57 PM

MORRISTOWN -- With just four months left in office, Morristown Mayor Donald Cresitello said he will begin a controversial federal program next month in which local officers will be able to serve as immigration agents, giving them authority to initiate deportation proceedings against illegal aliens linked to serious crimes.

Latino leaders say the program will increase tensions between Hispanics and local law enforcement.

Cresitello, who lost June's Democratic primary, said he does not need to conduct public hearings or obtain approval from the Town Council before the program begins. His signature is all that is needed, he said.

"This program does not just deal with illegal immigration," the mayor said. "It's an effort with regard to training officers involved in the process of protecting American citizens in Morristown."

Advocates for immigrants see it differently.

Morristown, along with the Monmouth County sheriff's department and the Hudson County department of corrections, are among 79 departments nationwide that have been accepted into the program, which has been overhauled to allay fears it would be used to target or harass immigrant groups.

Diana Mejia, co-founder of the Morristown-based Wind of the Spirit immigration resource center, said immigrants who live in town will avoid police out of fear they or their undocumented relatives will be deported.

Cresitello, she said, is trying to "clean the town of illegal immigrants."

"That's how the mayor started his term, and now the mayor is closing his term by enforcing the program. He has not showed any tolerance with the immigrant community," she said.

Cresitello gained national attention two years ago when, in an effort to take a hard line against illegal immigrants in his town, he tried to deputize police as immigration agents. He later softened his stance but the issue re-ignited during the primary election, which he lost to Tim Dougherty.

Dougherty did not return calls for comment today. Republican mayoral candidate Jimmy Gervasio, said he opposes the federal program because it could lead to civil rights lawsuits against police, as well as racial profiling.

"The current system is working," he said. "The Latino community might be prone not to call police for anything because they think something is going to happen to them."

Cresitello said six of Morristown's 58 officers will undergo 40 hours of training before the end of the year.

He did not say how much the program would cost, but said the town would be reimbursed by the federal government.

"It's simply housing and training costs," he said. "There is no significant cost," Cresitello said.

Once deputized, the officers will be able to initiate deportation proceedings against illegal aliens charged with serious crimes.

Police Chief Pete Demnitz said the federal program will also allow local police officers to run checks on criminal suspects to determine their immigration status. Currently, only ICE agents conduct those background checks, he said.

"I have no problem with an enforcement tool that addresses criminal activity," he said. "I think we've shown that we respect the rights of all persons."

Monmouth County Sheriff Kim Guadagno, who is running with Republican gubernatorial candidate Chris Christie's as his lieutenant governor candidate, said she also intends to sign onto the federal program. Five officers from her department will undergo training, Guadagno said.

"We are not going to have task forces. If that's the complaint from the Latino community, nothing could be further from the truth in Monmouth County," she said. "There will be no round-ups by my officers."

Originally, the program came under fire from Congress' investigative arm, the General Accountability Office, for failure to supervise participating agencies. Government investigators said in May that in some cases, police officers who had been deputized as immigration agents swept up large numbers of immigrants on minor offenses, such as speeding and drinking in public, in an effort to rid their communities of illegal aliens.

The program had been suspended during a review by the Obama administration. It has now been overhauled, with the newly stated purpose, according to ICE, to catch "criminal aliens who pose a threat to public safety or danger to the community."

Under the revised program, participating agencies are required to make the identification of illegal aliens who commit serious crimes their top priority. The changes set priorities for the identification of illegal immigrants who are convicted of or arrested for, respectively, major drug or violent crimes; then, those involving minor drug or property crimes; and those linked to other crimes.

Cresitello said the program is necessary to protect the town's "assets," including its schools, Morristown Memorial Hospital, Morristown Airport and other public systems and facilities.

"Because of the kind of criminal activity that happens in town, including human trafficking, gang activity and drugs, Morristown is in need of this cooperative effort," Cresitello said. "Some towns do, and some towns don't. And we do."

Mejia said she hopes that when Morristown's new administration takes office in January, it will abandon the program.

"It's very sad in how this will affect the community," she said. "Morristown has bigger problems to worry about, not to pose something against the Latino community."

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