Results 1 to 4 of 4

Thread Information

Users Browsing this Thread

There are currently 1 users browsing this thread. (0 members and 1 guests)

  1. #1
    Administrator Jean's Avatar
    Join Date
    May 2006
    Location
    California
    Posts
    65,443

    N.J.: Cresitello: Local Immigration enforcement plan not dea

    02/23/08 - Posted from the Daily Record newsroom
    Cresitello: Local Immigration enforcement plan not dead yet
    County rejects Morristown mayor's request for jail space for detainees

    BY MINHAJ HASSAN
    DAILY RECORD
    MORRISTOWN -- Morris County's refusal to sign off on Mayor Donald Cresitello's controversial immigration enforcement plan makes it unlikely that it will move forward, but the mayor is vowing to fight on.

    "I don't think it's dead yet," Cresitello said in a brief phone interview on Friday. "Maybe I can embarrass the president, the attorney general and the freeholders."

    Cresitello wants to deputize local police officers to enforce federal immigration laws under a program known as 287G. The plan would give approximately 10 local police officers the same enforcement powers as agents of the federal Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

    The town had to apply to the federal government to move forward, but approval was contingent on the town being allowed to use the county jail to house any detainees who are suspected of crimes and are living in town without legal documents.

    Sheriff's cost report

    The county made its decision not to participate in the plan after receiving an analytical report from Sheriff Edward Rochford. The county had asked Rochford to study the possible impact on the county jail if the town were to implement 287G.

    Among other things, the report concluded that the program would require start-up costs of $1.5 million, which would include hiring additional staff members, training and renovations, among other costs. The county jail currently has a budget of approximately $16.3 million.

    According to Rochford, the county would have to hire two additional sergeants, 11 more officers, two more nurses, one teacher and one counselor, which would amount to annual costs of approximately $836,000.

    In addition, the county jail would have to add special fencing to provide security. Leaving it in its current form would leave the facility vulnerable to protesters who easily could penetrate the property, Rochford said. The fence would cost approximately $243,000.

    Additional costs in providing medical care, food, sanitation and maintenance, among other things, would tack on another $251,000 a year, Rochford said.

    "In light of the foregoing and detailed information contained in (the report), the county of Morris and Morris County Sheriff's Office have chosen not to participate in the 287(G) program at this time," said a statement from the county on Friday.

    'Do it in public'

    Cresitello said he will write a letter to Freeholder Director Margaret Nordstrom seeking a reversal of the decision. He said he will publicly present his request to the freeholders at a future meeting.

    "If they want to officially deny my request, let them do it in public," he said.

    In a prior published report, Cresitello had said that his plan was effectively killed by the county's refusal to participate.

    Cresitello applied for the 287G program in March. At the time, it wasn't a requirement for the town to show ICE they would have enough jail space for detainees. So, when the requirement went into effect last summer, town officials told the county that they would be unable to enter into the program unless the Morris County Correctional Facility was willing to provide jail space for detainees.

    The mayor said he also will contact ICE to comment on "how ill-conceived that requirement was."

    Cresitello added that it was not right for ICE to change its requirements midstream. He said he would not have applied for 287G, since he doubted that the county would go along with the program.

    "It was wrong for them (ICE) to change the game plan," he said.

    Collected data

    The sheriff's office collected data and spoke to other law enforcement agencies for the report that was submitted to county officials in November.

    "The sheriff and his staff performed exhaustive research to evaluate the concept, strengths and opportunities involving the implementation of 287G," said Morris County Administrator John Bonanni. "It was critical he have the time to evaluate this, since he's our top law officer. He came out with an extremely professional report based on sound and rational findings."

    Diana Mejia, head of the town immigrant resource group Wind of the Spirit, said she's happy and "thanks God" for the county's decision.

    "I'm glad they listened to what we had to say," said Mejia, who occasionally met with county officials to discuss the impact of 287G.

    "It doesn't make sense for them to enter into this agreement," she said. "It will cost the county residents more."


    www.dailyrecord.com
    Support our FIGHT AGAINST illegal immigration & Amnesty by joining our E-mail Alerts at https://eepurl.com/cktGTn

  2. #2
    Senior Member LegalUSCitizen's Avatar
    Join Date
    Apr 2005
    Location
    Georgia
    Posts
    10,934
    Morris County's refusal to sign off on Mayor Donald Cresitello's controversial immigration enforcement plan makes it unlikely that it will move forward, but the mayor is vowing to fight on.
    Please keep trying, Mayor Cresitello. If you did not believe it to be necessary and in the best interest of your town, you would have never tried to begin with.

    The American people know you are RIGHT and are stand with you.
    Join our efforts to Secure America's Borders and End Illegal Immigration by Joining ALIPAC's E-Mail Alerts network (CLICK HERE)

  3. #3
    tubby's Avatar
    Join Date
    Jan 1970
    Location
    New Jersey
    Posts
    125
    Sounds bogus to me. Especially the bit about protestors and securing the facility with a fence. Aren't they currently contacting immigration about the legal status of detainees? In 2007 the state required immigration status checks on all illegals arrested for felonies or DUI.

    I guess 287g would cast a wider net.

  4. #4
    Administrator Jean's Avatar
    Join Date
    May 2006
    Location
    California
    Posts
    65,443
    Mayor presses county on jailing illegals
    Wary officials see rising costs in Morristown proposal
    Tuesday, February 26, 2008
    BY LAWRENCE RAGONESE
    Star-Ledger Staff
    Morristown Mayor Donald Cre sitello is putting pressure on Morris County to reconsider its unofficial denial of his request to use the county jail as a holding area for illegal immigrants if local police are deputized as federal immigration agents.

    In a letter sent Friday to Freeholder Director Margaret Nordstrom, Cresitello, a Democrat, asked for an audience with the all- Republican county governing board to outline the benefits of housing detainees in the county lockup in Morris Township.

    The mayor said county participation would increase public safety in Morristown and countywide. Specially trained Morristown police could help the county screen its sentenced inmates who are illegal immigrants for possible deporta tion and would be able to track down "criminal aliens" with prior felony records for "expedited removal" from the county, he wrote.

    He said the county governing board owes the public a formal response to his request.

    "Then the voters in Morris County will know their elected officials choose not to help the sur rounding municipalities," Cresitello said yesterday."

    Nordstrom said she would set up a meeting in the near future with Cresitello.

    "Maybe there is something new he can tell us to change our minds," she said.

    But Nordstrom stressed the county has an unwritten agreement with communities near the jail, dating to the jail siting in the late 1990s, to house only county in mates at the lockup and not open it to state and/or federal inmates.

    A report submitted to the freeholders in October by Sheriff Ed ward Rochford outlined a host of potential negatives for the county, including a need for additional jail staff, equipment, supplies, vehicles, training, overtime and ancillary costs totaling $1.3 million, plus $250,000 annually in fringe benefits and undetermined medical and litigation costs.

    The money offered by the federal government would not cover the county's cost, he reported.

    "We want to get these people who are illegally here off the streets and back to where they come from," Rochford said yesterday, offering some support for Cresitello's concept. "But it would not be beneficial for the county or the jail."

    But Cresitello countered: "How do you put a price on law enforcement? Once the word got out that Morristown was enforcing the law I'm sure some (illegal immigrants) would move on to other places."

    Cresitello's efforts to deputize local police as immigration agents is a move that gained national attention last year, prompting a fierce local political debate. He made some informal inquiries last summer to the county, through at torney Jonathan Williams, to gauge their interest in using the county jail to hold detainees.

    The mayor said yesterday he would consider looking outside the state for possible alternative jails if the county is not cooperative, but said he has not yet started negotiations with any other facilities.

    Diana Mejia, co-founder of Morristown immigrants' resource center "Wind of the Spirit," was critical of Cresitello's plan, saying it would be a waste of tax dollars. She urged the freeholders to keep the county jail closed to immigrant detainees.

    "It's high cost and it's not necessary," Mejia said.

    The county jail, which sits at the borders of Morristown and Hanover, has a capacity for 525 in mates and now houses more than 300. The freeholders have consistently rejected offers to bring in outside inmates, even rejecting some financially lucrative offers.

    In the 1990s, freeholder boards declined to accept state money to help finance construction of a new county jail in deals that would have required the jail to accept state prison inmates. In 1996, the U.S. Marshal's Office offered $6 million in return for a 15- to 20-year commitment to house up to 64 federal inmates in the jail.

    The freeholders in 1999 also turned down an offer of easy federal money: $1.7 million a year for bringing in 64 federal inmates to fill a wing at the new county jail when it opened.

    Rochford said the county has long-cooperated with ICE. The county jail processed 384 illegal im migrants charged with crimes since last April --the current total is 48 -- keeping them until criminal charges were resolved. They were then shipped to federal holding areas, he said.

    But if the county signed on to Cresitello's plan, he said the jail would be required to indefinitely hold the immigrants, causing an overload at the jail.

    www.nj.com
    Support our FIGHT AGAINST illegal immigration & Amnesty by joining our E-mail Alerts at https://eepurl.com/cktGTn

Posting Permissions

  • You may not post new threads
  • You may not post replies
  • You may not post attachments
  • You may not edit your posts
  •