Thread: BERGENFIELD NJ: Petition urges crack down on illegals

Petition urges crack down on illegals
Wednesday, November 7, 2007

By ELIZABETH LLORENTE
STAFF WRITER


Residents of Bergenfield, a major hub for day laborers in North Jersey, have collected 500 signatures on a petition that seeks to have local police specially empowered to enforce immigration laws.

The petition is spearheaded by statewide groups that favor strict immigration measures. It calls on borough officials to apply for a federal program known as 287(g).

The program, run by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, trains and deputizes local police to enforce immigration laws and, if warranted, begin deportation proceedings. The statewide groups that favor 287(g) want to see all towns in the state implement the program.

"Bergenfield must get its streets under control as far as having illegals hanging out," said Mike Knowles, a resident who signed the petition, and head of the Bergenfield Homeowners Association, whose members refused to support 287(g) as an organization. "I haven't been able to get much support in this town."

The response among officials of this borough of 28,000 people has been mixed, ranging from a passing interest in 287(g) to concerns about the policing cost and potential for racial profiling.

Some also noted that it would have been impractical to make decisions on an issue as complex and controversial as 287(g) before the election.

"When the new mayor and council are in office, they should sit down with them [petitioners] and examine this," said Mayor Richard Bohan, who was seeking reelection. "There is a problem with day laborers, but [it's] because some of them linger at corners and spill into the main street in the town."

Like other towns such as Palisades Park and Morristown that attract large numbers of day laborers, Bergenfield has become a stage in New Jersey for the debate over illegal immigration. Every Saturday morning, members of groups such as United Patriots of America -- which favors a hard line on illegal immigration -- stand yards away from where the day laborers gather to wait for contractors, holding up placards that denounce illegal immigration.

Councilman Bruce Carlson said he is concerned about using local taxpayer dollars to address a matter such as illegal immigration that "should be a federal government function, or at least a state government function."

Carlson said he's uncomfortable with the notion that 287(g) is necessary to keep Bergenfield residents safe from illegal-immigrant criminals.

"There's an awful lot of conflating the issues of crime and immigration," Carlson said. "And if there's a crime in our town, or if anyone is harassed in our town, by either someone who is legal or not legal, we have a very large and very capable police force that immediately would deal with those issues."

Knowles, along with members of the two groups pushing for strict immigration enforcement -- New Jersey Citizens for Immigration Control and You Don't Speak for Me -- presented the petition to the Borough Council at a public meeting last month.

Miguel Cruz, executive director of the state chapter of You Don't Speak for Me, said he and the other 287(g) proponents received a chilly reception from the governing body.

"They said they'd review it, but they didn't want to hear us," said Cruz, who lives in Essex County. "This petition was signed by 500 registered voters from Bergenfield. It's the constituency that voted for these politicians. They're [turning] their backs to them."

Cruz vowed not to give up.

"We're going to wait for the new mayor and council to be in place," he said. "287(g) is not about doing raids, or day laborers, or rounding people up. It's about protecting the community."

For his part, Bergenfield resident Bob Armbruster hopes 287(g) never takes hold in his hometown.

"The day laborers I've known are very good people who want to become legal and pay taxes someday," said Armbruster, who is active in a number of volunteer efforts in Bergenfield. "A lot of us forget or don't know that we have illegal immigrants in our ancestry. My grandfather was an illegal immigrant from Germany who worked on ships and never went back. In those days people paid off politicians and got their legal papers."

The idea of deputizing local police officers to enforce immigration laws has arisen in at least two other North Jersey towns this year, Morristown and Bogota.

The mayor of Morristown -- where day laborers also congregate hoping a contractor will hire them -- has applied to the Department of Homeland Security for enrollment in 287(g). Bogota Mayor Steve Lonegan expressed interest in applying, though some members of the Borough Council have objected.

E-mail: llorente@northjersey.com


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"The day laborers I've known are very good people who want to become legal and pay taxes someday," said Armbruster, who is active in a number of volunteer efforts in Bergenfield.

He's probably using illegals to work for him while he's "volunteering" I'd like to know what he "volunteers" for?