Here in the Great State of New Jersey, no one can get it right!
Police ordered to report illegal immigrant arrests to feds - CNN.com Police ordered to report illegal immigrant arrests to feds
TRENTON, New Jersey (AP) -- New Jersey law enforcement was ordered Wednesday to notify federal immigration officials whenever someone arrested for an indictable offense or drunken driving is determined to be an illegal immigrant.
That mandate, issued by the state attorney general on Wednesday, follows a review prompted by the brutal slayings of three Newark college students. One of the six suspects in the crime was an illegal immigrant who had been granted bail on child rape and aggravated assault charges without immigration officials being alerted to his existence.
Attorney General Anne Milgram reviewed the state's policy in light of the execution-style killings August 4. A fourth young person was wounded.
U.S. immigration officials have said they would have moved toward getting Jose Carranza, 28, deported had they known about him. The killings highlighted the need "to
have a uniform state policy on notification to immigration," Milgram said. Before the directive, "
all police departments in our state had complete discretion as to if, when and how to notify immigration authorities." The policy applies to all state and local law enforcement and to prosecutors. It also specifies that police notify prosecutors and courts when illegal immigrants are arrested. The directive, however, prohibits officers from checking the immigration status of crime victims or witnesses.
Milgram treaded lightly on a federal law allowing local police to be deputized as immigration agents. She said that the practice will be allowed in New Jersey, but that deputized agents can perform immigration status checks.
NJ.com: Everything Jersey Mayor must limit immigration checks
8/25/2007, 10:58 a.m. EDT
The Associated Press
MORRISTOWN, N.J. (AP) — State and federal officials have told the Morristown mayor that police should not be checking the immigration status of people pulled over for traffic stops or minor crimes.
Plans by Mayor Donald Cresitello, outlined in a letter to U.S. Attorney Christopher Christie on Aug. 16, called for police to make immigration checks during routine traffic stops and low-level crimes. David Wald, a spokesman for Attorney General Anne Milgram, told The Star-Ledger of Newark for Saturday's editions that the checks are "something
our office thinks should not happen." In a letter Friday, Christie also told Cresitello that his plans "
directly contradicted" plans by Milgram to check the immigration status of people charged with serious crimes or drunken driving.
Milgram proposed those guidelines in the wake of the Newark schoolyard shootings in which three college students were killed; an illegal immigrant who was out on bail at the time the shootings occurred has been charged in the murders.
"
She's handcuffed law enforcement in the state of New Jersey," Cresitello told the newspaper. The Morristown mayor, who's been at the forefront of the campaign against illegal immigration in New Jersey, has applied for a federal program that trains and deputizes local officers as immigration agents.
The local officers are then allowed to make inquiries about immigration status and move to deport suspects. According to Cresitello that would make local officers immune from Attorney General oversight since they would answer to the federal Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
But Wald disputed that, saying the federal program doesn't "
put a wall between New Jersey law enforcement and the Morristown police department."
Cresitello's proposed checks have drawn criticism. "
The mayor wants to purge immigrants from his town," Maria Juega, of the Latin American Legal Defense and Education Fund said.
NJ.com: Everything Jersey Police: Tried illegals policy
Sunday, August 26, 2007
By Trish G. Graber and Jonathan Vit
gcnews@sjnewsco.com
TRENTON Days after the state began to require law enforcement to contact the feds when arresting illegal immigrants for a major crime, law enforcement had a message for Trenton:
Been there, done that.
"
We go through all the motions ... and (immigration officials) say, What do you want us to do? There are only so many of us in the state,' " said Woodbury Heights Police Chief Leo Selb.
Attorney General Anne Milgram issued the directive for all local, county and state police in the aftermath of the triple-murder of college students on summer break in Newark. A key suspect is an illegal immigrant with prior charges.
Milgram said the tragedy underscored the need for a uniform policy. But local police departments already engaged in reporting practices are wondering what will change.
Franklin Township Police Chief Michael DiGiorgio required his officers to call U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) after six suspects three in the country illegally were arrested for a foiled terror plot at Fort Dix. Several police departments, including Washington Township, experienced public scrutiny for having prior contact with the suspects and failing to report them.
"
Law enforcement has handled it themselves because they haven't had the support of ICE," DiGiorgio said. "
For years we have called immigration, and immigration has always been understaffed."
In a May interview, top ICE officials in New Jersey said the department must prioritize their cases because of scant resources.
"
I guess the rap on ICE, (is) that we don't handle the single issue. You know ... Jose the dishwasher who shows up in a police station," said Thomas Manifase, deputy special agent in charge at Newark's ICE office. "
Based on our resources ... we are focusing our manpower on larger criminal groups."
At the time, Manifase said the department had 300 federal officials, 42 of whom police south of Trenton, targeting aliens involved in organized crime drug smuggling and gangs.Following the state mandate last week, ICE spokesman for the Northeastern region, Michael Gilhooly, said the state has adequate federal resources. He declined to elaborate.
"
We have received some more resources, but again we don't talk about the numbers," he said.
State officials said that even if ICE fails to respond to the influx of calls for indictable crimes such as murder, rape, aggravated assault, robbery or theft or driving while intoxicated, the directive could still have an impact.
"
If they choose not to do their job with a uniform body of evidence ... they're going to have to answer to the public," said Assemblyman John Burzichelli, D-3 of Paulsboro, vice chair of the Assembly Homeland Security and State Preparedness Committee.
Burzichelli had questioned former Attorney General Stuart Rabner on a state policy following tragic crimes committed by illegal immigrants in South Jersey.
In 2003, an illegal immigrant from Mexico who was living in Bridgeton, Juan Luis Bautista, slammed into the vehicle of 21-year-old Christina Applegate in Franklin Township, leaving the woman in a coma. Bautista had a blood alcohol level of .117. After posting bail, he skipped town and remains at large.
Last year, a group of illegal immigrants was arrested and charged with the gang rape of a 13-year-old girl from Millville, Cumberland County.
Then in April, Randy Lopez-Rivas, 18, an illegal immigrant from Guatemala, was arrested and charged with murdering his girlfriend's 3-month-old daughter in Vineland and stuffing her behind a basement dryer. He had previous burglary and theft charges; however, federal officials were not alerted until after the murder.
Now, with action from the state and uniform reporting, Burzichelli said, state officials could make a case if the feds refuse to act.
"
The steps that the attorney general has agreed to take in this uniform policy remove any ambiguous excuses," Burzichelli said.
Milgram encouraged counties to obtain federal computer software for correctional facilities, which would enable them to lodge detainers against those incarcerated in order to begin deportation proceedings at the completion of their criminal cases. That would take a partnership with federal authorities.
But immigration advocates believe such measures would not address the larger problem of crime.
"
We believe that deportation is not an answer," said Amy Gottlieb, director of the Newark-based immigration rights program for the American Friends Service Committee.
On both sides of the issue, advocates and critics have said only time will tell if the directive makes an impact.
In Woodbury Heights, Chief Selb seemed skeptical, calling the mandate a "
knee jerk reaction." He noted that practical limitations, such as limited jail space and an extensive deportation process, could prevent a successful outcome of the policy.
"
There was tragedy in Newark, and everyone put their arms together and said This is what we are going to do,' " he said. "
Well, no one thought how it was going to turn out down the line."
My own two thoughts are nobody still gets it ...its ILLEGAL!! I don't care where you come from, be LEGAL. I'd like to ask Amy Gottlieb, director of the Newark-based immigration rights program for the American Friends Service Committee what her answer is. I know she doesn't have one.
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