Comments don’t match situation in Freehold

The issue of illegal immigration remains the hottest topic in Freehold Borough, and that was evident on the second day of the new year when the town’s government reorganized for 2005.

Borough officials acknowledged in their remarks that the town is continuing to struggle with the real-world consequences Freehold must face as the result of unenforced federal immigration laws.

The relative peace of reorganization day was broken by Gavrielle Gemma and Alejandro Abarca, who are members of the immigrant advocacy group Casa Freehold. They took issue with the comments made by municipal officials during the meeting.

While Mayor Michael Wilson and council members have taken a serious stand against illegal immigration and in support of the enforcement of the nation’s laws, it is impossible to consider the notion that Wilson or any member of the council would threaten a resident of the community, whether an individual is in the United States legally or illegally.

Gemma and Abarca said they believe the comments of council members encourage “dangerous anti-immigration behavior” in the community. They compared the situation in Freehold to Farming-ville, N.Y., where in one instance two Mexicans were beaten by residents who were apparently reacting to the changing face of their community.

Gemma claimed that at one point last year members of a civic group called PEOPLE were seen yelling obscenities at immigrants as the immigrants waited to be picked up for day work. She also referred to town meetings where members of PEOPLE would come to, in her word, “complain” about the immigrant population.

If there were occasions when members of PEOPLE were shouting obscenities at day laborers, they quickly came to a halt.

No situation ever escalated to the type of incident that occurred in Farmingville, and we have no reason to believe there will ever be such an incident in Freehold. PEOPLE has been largely silent for almost a year.

Advocates for the immigrant community, including Gemma and Abarca, have filed a federal lawsuit against Freehold and are litigating it now. A call by this group for borough officials to sit down and work out the situation is too late in coming.

Casa Freehold, by virtue of its actions, comments and apparent support of illegal immigration, will never have, and does not deserve, the trust, respect and cooperation of borough officials.