Lt. Gov. candidate Guadagno blasts N.J. Attorney General Milgram on immigration policy
by Chris Megerian/Statehouse Bureau
Thursday September 03, 2009, 7:15 PM

TRENTON -- Chris Christie's running mate accused state Attorney General Anne Milgram of "hate mongering" in a letter released today.

Kim Guadagno, the Monmouth County sheriff, said Milgram had spread inaccurate information when she cautioned local police departments interested in enforcing immigration law against illegally profiling residents.

Andrew Mills
New Jersey Republican gubernatorial candidate Chris Christie, left, with his running mate, Kim Guadagno, the Monmouth County sheriff, in this July 20, 2009 photo.


"It is a sad day for law enforcement when its leader not only becomes politicized, but does so in a way that hurts the residents she is sworn to protect," Guadagno wrote.

Milgram sent letters Friday and Tuesday to officials in three counties -- Morris, Hudson and Monmouth -- that are seeking to participate in the federal government's 287 (g) program, which trains local officers to enforce immigration laws. She cautioned them to avoid profiling and she said effective policing requires maintaining a "positive relationship" with the community.

Milgram denied politics played any role in her letters, which followed moves by Morristown officials to deputize officers as immigration agents.
Read the full transcript of Monmouth County Sheriff Kim Guadagno's response to Attorney General Anne Milgram
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"It's relevant now solely for the fact that they were just granted the authority to do it and that the application process is happening as we speak," Milgram said. "We cannot allow profiling to occur and we can't allow pretextual arrests to occur."

But Guadagno said Milgram's letter incorrectly implies Monmouth corrections authorities will be rounding up immigrants in the community.

"Because your letter so inaccurately characterizes the Monmouth program, you have incited an immigrant community in a way that can be fairly characterized as hate mongering," Guadagno's letter states.

Christie has made consistent overtures to Hispanic voters as part of his effort to pry votes from the Democrats' urban base.

But several Hispanic leaders and immigration advocates said they became discouraged about Christie when he selected Guadagno to join his ticket. Critics accused Guadagno of capitalizing on suspicion towards immigrants to further her own political career.

Christie had also been critical of the 287 (g) program in the past. But he and Guadagno have said her application of the program does not promote intolerance or involve roundups, instead running federal background and immigration checks of those in the Monmouth County jail.

Speaking to reporters in Newark today, Gov. Jon Corzine backed Milgram, calling her guidelines "very straightforward."

He said enforcing federal immigration laws at the local level can be "counterproductive to public safety" by creating distrust in the community.


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