Thread: Immigrant advocates oppose deportation program Morristown ma

Immigrant advocates oppose deportation program Morristown may give cops authority to initiate proceedings against illegals

The Star-Ledger (Newark, New Jersey)
October 9, 2009 Friday
BY TANYA DROBNESS, STAR-LEDGER STAFF

As Morristown Mayor Donald Cresitello nears signing off on a federal program to deputize police as immigration agents, statewide immigration advocates yesterday urged local and national officials to stop the effort.

The program, known as 287(g), which would give police authority to initiate deportation proceedings against illegal immigrants linked to serious crimes, was denounced yesterday during two news conferences held by the New Jersey Immigration Policy Network at the Morristown municipal building and the Monmouth County Sheriff's Office in Freehold.

"We don't want a penny of taxpayer's money to be spent on a program that is disgraced," said Shai Goldstein, executive director of the faith- and community-based coalition.

The group, comprising business, labor and civil rights organizations promoting immigration reform, last week sent a letter to U.S. Secretary of Homeland Security Janet Napolitano, calling for the elimination of 287(g).

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

Civil rights leaders yesterday said the program would lead to racial profiling.

"We need fair and humane immigration policies," said Amy Gottlieb, director of the Newark-based American Friends Service Committee, an immigrant rights program.

Other groups participating yesterday, including the Latino Alliance of New Jersey, Morris County Hispanic-American Chamber of Commerce, Morristown-based Wind of the Spirit immigration resource center, American Civil Liberties Union and American Jewish Committee, said the program would frighten immigrants from cooperating with police and harm relations with Hispanics.

"The mayor has come up with a plan to persecute the Hispanics and Latinos in the community," said Rev. Osvaldo Jimenez of First Baptist Church of Morristown.

But Cresitello said he is concerned about serious crimes committed by illegal immigrants. He cited the case of Porfirio Jimenez, an illegal immigrant from Honduras serving life in prison for the murder of 10-year-old Walter Contreras Valenzuela on May 20, 2001.

Cresitello said he can't sign off on the program until police union PBA Local 43 agrees to participate.

"I think they're stalling," said Cresitello, noting that the union has had at least two weeks to respond. "They're holding up my ability to sign off on the agreement. I'm reviewing my options."

PBA attorney Paul Kleinbaum and PBA president Detective Daniel Widdis did not return calls for comment.

Approval by the police union has been sought because deputized officers would have to commit to the program for at least two years, according to the agreement between the town and Department of Homeland Security.

In Monmouth County, the program applies only to corrections officers who work in the jail, Monmouth County Sheriff Kim Guadagno has said.

Patty Sly, executive director of the Jersey Battered Women's Service, said 287(g) would deter victims and witnesses from reporting violence.

Construction worker Israel Cabrerra, a native of Honduras living in Hopatcong, said the Hispanic community is already afraid. "Deportation should be left to the government," Cabrerra said.

The program was initially criticized by Congress' investigative arm, the General Accountability Office, for failure to supervise participating agencies.

In May, government investigators said that in some cases, police officers who had been deputized as immigration agents swept up large numbers of immigrants for minor offenses in an effort to rid their communities of those in the United States illegally.

Tanya Drobness may be reached at (973) 539-7910 or tdrobness@starledger.com

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Patty Sly, executive director of the Jersey Battered Women's Service, said 287(g) would deter victims and witnesses from reporting violence.

Do these people ever stop to think that perhaps there would be less violence and less crime to report if illegals were deported?

The argument that 287(g) detrers those from reporting crime is a red herring, last gasp effort to prevent 287(g) programs from being implemented in communites across this country.

Further, why is it that so many illegals are potential witnesses to crime being committed? They live primarily amongst themselves, in ethnic- illegal enclaves.

Who's committing the crime that they are a potential witnesses to?