Immigration directive draws mixed reaction

Posted by The Times of Trenton August 22, 2007 10:34PM
http://blog.nj.com/timesupdates/2007/08 ... ws_mi.html

It was just a burned-out headlight.

But for Harry Luna, it represented much, much more.

Luna, the president of the Latino Chamber of Commerce of Mercer County, remembers being stopped by state police when he was driving with a headlight out and asked for his immigration status.

"They asked where I was born. I told them I was born in a hospital," Luna said.

Being asked for legal status when a car light is out was disturbing, Luna said.

"That's illegal," he said.

But with a new directive by state Attorney General Anne Milgram ordering police to notify federal immigration officials whenever an illegal immigrant is arrested for a serious crime, Luna fears more and more illegal stops could be made.

Luna thinks police should focus on crime and not immigration law.

When Princeton Township Mayor Phyllis Marchand heard the attorney general's directive, she had one thought: "This has to be a response to the tragedy in Newark."

Marchand, like the nation, was horrified by the Newark killings.

"Obviously, the judicial system in New Jersey is looking at ways to prevent these things from happening," she said.

Hightstown Mayor Robert Patten received national attention earlier this year for his open door policy toward immigrants -- legal or otherwise -- who live and work in town and he feels the attorney general took the right tack in crafting the order.

"I think it's reasonable," Patten said. "There's no profiling and it does protect the rights of individuals. It makes sense to me."

See Thursday's Times for more on this story