Police begin to check suspects' immigration status
Attorney general's directive applies to local departments
BY CLARE MARIE CELANO Staff Writer
The Freehold Borough Police Department has already had an opportunity to comply with a recent directive issued by New Jersey Attorney General Anne Millgram regarding suspected illegal immigrants who commit indictable crimes.

On Aug. 22, Millgram ordered all police officers in New Jersey to inquire about the immigration status of any person who has been charged with a serious crime or with driving while intoxicated and to notify federal immigration authorities if a law enforcement authority has reason to believe the suspect is not in the United States legally.

The attorney general's directive to New Jersey law enforcement agencies came in the wake of the murder of three college students in Newark earlier this summer. One suspect who has been arrested in connection with the triple murder is reported to be a Peruvian national who is in the United States illegally.

According to information provided by Borough Attorney Kerry Higgins, Freehold Borough Mayor Michael Wilson reported that on Aug. 27, police officers arrested an individual for an indictable offense. After questioning the arrestee's immigration status, police provided that information to federal immigration authorities for review.

No information about the nature of the crime or the response from U.S. authorities was available by the News Transcript deadline on Tuesday.

The directive issued by Millgram provides guidelines and establishes the manner in which local, county and state law enforcement agencies and offices will interact with federal immigration authorities. The order states:

"When a local, county or state law enforcement officer makes an arrest for any indictable crime, or for driving while intoxicated, the arresting officer, as part of the booking process, shall inquire about the arrestee's citizenship, nationality and immigration status. If the officer has reason to believe the person may not be lawfully present in the United States, the officer shall notify Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) during the arrest booking process."

The notification to ICE may be made by telephone, by fax, or by other means such as ICE may provide. The police officer will be required to document when and by what means notification to ICE was made and the factual basis for believing that the suspect may be an illegal immigrant.

Whenever a law enforcement officer notifies ICE about a suspected illegal immigrant, notification will also be made to the prosecuting authority that will handle the matter (i.e. the county prosecutor's office).

County prosecutors will, on an annual basis, report to the director of the Division of Criminal Justice on the total number of notifications made pursuant to the directive and the director will make the data public on an annual basis.

No state, county or local law enforcement officer will be permitted to inquire about or investigate the immigration status of any victim, witness, potential witness or any person requesting or receiving police assistance.

Wilson said he has already had discussions on the matter with Freehold Borough Police Chief Mitchell Roth.

The Freehold Borough mayor said Roth will meet with the Monmouth County Police Chiefs Association and the New Jersey State Association of Chiefs of Police to request a summit with Monmouth County Prosecutor Luis Valentin, Monmouth County Sheriff Joseph Oxley and other jurisdictions who are similarly impacted by this order.

"Police Chief Roth is requesting that the prosecutor review the guidelines to assure that the implementation is consistent among all municipalities in the county and to answer any gray area questions," Wilson said.

He added that the attorney general's directive requires inquiry and notification as to a suspect's immigration status, but does not call for detention of a person suspected of being in the United States illegally unless instructed by ICE to detain the individual.

Wilson added that the directive mandates that no inquiry is to be made or investigation commenced into the immigration status of any victim, witness, potential witness or person, who has requested or is receiving police assistance.

Frank Argote-Freyre, chairman of the Freehold chapter of the Latino Leadership Alliance of New Jersey, said of the directive, "we (the alliance) are in the process of analyzing the directive and are monitoring anti-immigrant groups across the state. Many anti-immigrant groups think this directive implies it is open season and all of a sudden you can stop anyone. There are safeguards in place for immigrants and they can only be stopped for immigration status under certain specific conditions. People cannot use this as a tool to round up immigrants on street corners or for racial profiling."

Argote-Freyre also said members of the alliance are especially monitoring towns with a large immigrant population, including Freehold Borough and Freehold Township.

He said he has met with Roth and plans to meet with other police chiefs in Monmouth County to discuss the directive and how it will be implemented. He said Millgram's directive will standardize procedures and leave less chance for abuse of a person's civil rights.

Freehold Township police Capt. James Lasky said the directive from the attorney general is in place and said the department is in the process of training all officers in the proper implementation of the directive.

"We are prepared to implement the attorney general's directive as stated and will take a wait-and-see approach to determine how effective it will be. We will do our part to help prevent any tragedy like the recent shooting of the three young adults in Newark," Lasky said.

He said that as of Sept. 4 police had not yet had a need to report any suspect's immigration status to ICE.