NJ: Immigrant fugitive search brings fear to local community
http://www.nj.com/news/sunbeam/local/in ... thispage=3
Immigrant fugitive search brings fear to local community
Thursday, February 01, 2007
By MATT DUNN
Staff Writer
BRIDGETON Members of the city's immigrant community were in a panic Wednesday after they claim at least a dozen suspected illegal immigrants were arrested this week by Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers.
Local residents believe the officers, who may still be in the area, are looking for a fugitive immigrant.
But they are reportedly arresting any resident who fails to show documentation proving they are in the country legally, according to Pastor Gilbert Hernandez of the Iglesia Pentecostal y Misionera church on Irving Avenue.
Hernandez said the first arrest reported to him was made Monday at 4 a.m.
The ICE officers drove a black and white van with the agency's initials stenciled on its rear. It was spotted Wednesday afternoon on Laurel Street.
They took into custody Monday 23-year-old Lazaro Perez, a recycling plant worker who left behind a wife and infant.
Several residents with long faces gathered in Hernandez's small white church Wednesday along with Bob Thompson, a local real estate agent, wondering what happens now to their friends, family and co-workers.
Those arrested this week include several of Thompson's tenants and one of his employees, as well as members of Hernandez's congregation.
"They're all good people," remarked Thompson, who said while he favors deporting illegal immigrants who are criminals, that represents only a small fraction of the community.
Hernandez, who's been a pastor for 18 years, described Perez as a good man and Thompson had the same to say about his employee, a painter.
"(ICE officers) need to have a damn good reason to break somebody's door down," Thompson said.
According to Hernandez, that's what happened Monday at one of Thompson's properties on Cohansey Street.
As for Perez, he went peaceably.
ICE spokesman Michael Gilhooly said in a phone interview Wednesday he was not familiar with the situation in Bridgeton.
Because of that, Gilhooly, who fields inquiries from the entire Northeast region of the United States, could not say how many people have been arrested so far or who in particular ICE was looking for here.
But from its description, Gilhooly said he does not believe the situation here to be unique.
This isn't the first time ICE visited Cumberland County.
About one year ago, rumors that proved to be only half-true surfaced that ICE was rounding up illegal immigrants here.
In truth, the agency only arrested several illegal immigrants who had ignored prior orders to leave the country.
Gilhooly said, however, if ICE officers encounter suspected illegal immigrants during the course of their work, they will arrest them.
"We make an arrest and they're served with a notice to appear in immigration court," he explained.
A judge sets bond at a person's initial court appearance, which Gilhooly said can happen pretty quickly following an arrest.
What complicates the situation is the relationship local law enforcement agencies have with the immigrant population.
City police and the county prosecutor's office, agencies bound by state statutes, do not have authority to arrest suspected illegal immigrants because immigration violations are federal crimes.
Prosecutor Ron Casella said in interviews last year his office actually is working to improve its relationship with the immigrant community, which, in part because of their fear of deportation, can be wary of law enforcement.
According to Hernandez, when ICE officers knocked on a Marion Street home Monday announcing they were the police, it was only natural for the residents to let them in.
"They had no trouble with the police," he said.
Only this was not the police.
Thompson recalled what happened next.
The ICE officers flashed a badge and held up a picture of a man they were looking for, he said.
"They asked if the guy lived there. They told him No.' Then (the officers) took all the men. They left behind a woman who was pregnant. Now we have a woman with two children, pregnant and no means of support," Thompson said.
Thompson promised free room and board for three months to tenants of his without a way to pay rent because their bread-winner was arrested by ICE.
Hernandez said Perez called his brother-in-law Tuesday night and told him he needed $10,000 to be freed, a high amount for workers who many times work on farms and regard winter as their off-season.
"For each person, that's $10,000. Who's going to have $10,000 in the winter?" he rhetorically asked. "Then, after they pay the $10,000, they are going to deport them anyway."
