reports meeting with
U.S. Homeland
Security representatives
Council says federal government
is listening on immigration issue
Freehold Borough
reports meeting with
U.S. Homeland
Security representatives
By clare marie celano
Staff Writer
The issue of illegal immigrants coming to make their home in Freehold Borough and their livelihood in central New Jersey is a subject that is often brought before the Borough Council and the Aug. 4 meeting was no different.
Once again, the town’s officials were asked by a resident about what is being done to address the situation that has made the borough a magnet for illegal immigrants for more than a decade.
Vanessa Minenna of Ellis Street told council members she no longer believes her neighborhood is safe to walk around in.
"I won’t go to the stores around here at night," she said. "I won’t walk around here at night either."
Minenna said the property tax bill she recently received from the borough should entitle her to at least feel safe in her own neighborhood. She wanted answers from council members and evidence that measures are being taken to address the issue.
Councilman Michael Toubin told Minenna that he and Borough Administrator Joseph Bellina recently attended a meeting with two representatives from the U.S. Department of Home-land Security (formerly the Immigration and Naturalization Service).
The meeting, according to Toubin, was a response from President George W. Bush. Toubin said he’d previously written to state legislators, hoping to get some guidance and help from the federal government with the immigration situation in the borough. Toubin said each official’s response referred him to someone else, stating that the issue "was not their job." He said he finally wrote to the president, who then contacted Homeland Security, which in turn contacted Toubin by mail on July 23 and set up the meeting.
Bellina told Minenna he was not at liberty to reveal the details of that meeting now, but said the federal representatives assured the borough officials they would look into the situation and return for another meeting at a later date.
In a subsequent conversation with Toubin, the councilman said the representatives from the Homeland Security would return for a meeting with Police Chief Michael Beierschmitt and Borough Prosecutor Scott Basen to "give us guidance and help us to enforce the local laws."
He said the guidance would include how to begin the process of deporting an illegal immigrant if he or she had committed a crime.
Toubin was referring to a crime committed by an illegal immigrant in the community, other than the initial crime of illegally entering the country.
"Our hands are really tied in this situation," Toubin said. "We cannot even ask people for their identification. It is unconstitutional in this country to do that, but we are trying to address the problem with Homeland Security."
Toubin added that representatives had also planned a meeting with Monmouth County Prosecutor John Kaye and officials from the Ocean County Prosecutor’s Office in order to discuss the immigration problem in Freehold Borough.
The illegal immigrant workers "may work in Lakewood and Toms River and other areas in Ocean County, but most of them live in Freehold Borough," Toubin said.
Councilman Kevin Coyne, who has expressed his concern for the humanitarian rights of residents of the borough and the immigrants, told Minenna that every council meeting over the last three years had comments addressing the immigration situation.
"Every meeting," he said. "We’ve knocked our heads together trying to find a solution to this problem, but we are limited by laws and we think this is unfair. We are not allowed to enforce immigration law."
He also addressed the issue of educating children whose parents may not be living in this country legally, stating that, "It is our constitutional duty to educate any child in our country."
In a subsequent conversation, Coyne said he believes it is time that "people who are benefiting from the work of illegal immigrants pay their fair share" of the burden that has befallen Freehold Borough. He said people who are hiring the illegal immigrants should also be included in this group.
Stating, as he has done before, that people in affluent communities reap the benefits of the cheap labor the immigrants provide, he reiterated that the burden of housing and schooling for children of immigrants still falls on the borough, which is one of only a few towns in western Monmouth County with housing available for rent.
"The people who are getting the benefit are not paying a thing," Coyne said. "The employers who hire them are not paying a damn thing either. In the end, the money leaves our community. The people who are getting fat are benefiting from the cheap labor of an untaxed labor force."
Coyne went on to say that this type of work ethic is an economy based on the illusion that you can get something for nothing.
"It doesn’t work that way here in America," he said. "We don’t work for cash. We pay taxes because we all need roads, we all need schools. The people who are hiring these landscapers really need to recognize their contribution to the problem. We, as a municipality, cannot make landscapers do anything. We can stop their vehicles for a motor vehicle violation, but we cannot stop them to ask them if they are paying taxes on their employees. Every person who hires one of these lawn services or landscapers is party to this crime."
Coyne said the illegal work force undermines the economy. He said there are people who would work in specialty trades such as landscaping and masonry and would like to learn the business, but he claimed employers would rather get that help for less money and not have to pay for their employees’ benefits.
Coyne said with this "uncontrolled" labor force, "no one is paying," and this is where the drain on the economy comes into play.
In concluding the interview, Coyne said he is "deeply offended" when he hears conversations that include the phrase, "I’m going down to the railroad tracks to pick up a couple of Mexicans to do some work."