committee discusses multi-faceted issue
Immigrants’ appearance
at meeting touches panel
Human relations
committee discusses multi-faceted issue
BY CLARE MARIE CELANO
Staff Writer
Day laborers wait for work at Freehold’s “muster zone” on Throckmorton Street.
In an unprecedented occurrence, a group of illegal Mexican immigrants came face to face with members of the human relations committee.
Fifteen young men came to the Sept. 22 meeting of the Freehold Borough’s human relations committee, escorted by Cecilia Reynolds, a member of the panel.
Reynolds is also the publisher of Nosotros, a Spanish language newspaper that circulates in Freehold.
The men said they came to the meeting because they heard it was a place where people listened to the concerns of borough residents.
Committee members listened intently as Reynolds relayed the words of the men in English as they addressed the committee in their native language.
Under most conditions, illegal immigrants are quite reluctant to reveal themselves to any public officials or law enforcement agencies, according to Reynolds. She said the men made an exception last month because she assured them their concerns would be heard and later addressed.
Although initially wary of the whole scenario, the workers relayed their concerns to Reynolds, who told her fellow committee members that the men had been "chased by law enforcement officials" during the week.
She said the immigrants told her that men in brown uniforms had chased them with their vehicles in the early morning hours on Throckmorton Street at what is known as the muster zone. She said the immigrants were asked for identification and several of them said they had their pictures taken by the officers but had no idea why.
The muster zone is the area set aside by the borough where people, including illegal immigrants, who are seeking work meet employers who are in need of day laborers.
"They were afraid that these officers were from the [federal Department of] Homeland Security, here to deport them," Reynolds said.
She said the men told her that landscapers had not been coming to pick them up as often as previously. Between the worry over the law enforcement officers and the lack of landscapers looking for workers, many of the immigrants had not worked all week, she said.
A spokesman for the Monmouth County Sheriff’s Office later told the News Transcript that the officers who had gone to the muster zone were looking for specific Hispanic men who had not made child support payments. He said the effort had nothing to do with immigration issues.
Councilman Kevin Coyne, who serves as the Borough Council’s liaison to the human relations committee, said that what he feared may now be happening.
"We may have hit a wall," he said. "If there is no work, there is no money. If there is no money, there is no way for them to afford a place to live. What then? They may have to go home. I don’t like to say this," Coyne continued, "but this town cannot be a refuge for all the day laborers in this area. We have a limited number of jobs and a limited amount of housing available. We cannot create more jobs. At some point someone is going to get hurt."
Committee member Frank Freyre told the men he was impressed by their appearance before the panel. He told them he admired their attempt to "break down the barriers" by coming to the meeting.
Freyre, a research scholar at Rutgers University, New Brunswick, who teaches Latin American history at the university, asked Reynolds if there is a way to reach out to members of the Hispanic community who could become "core leaders" capable of bringing concerns to the attention of municipal officials. He commended Reynolds and the men for reaching out to those who would listen and try to help.
Other issues discussed after the workers left the meeting included the matricula consular. The card which can be issued by the Mexican government to Mexican nationals residing in the United States is a means of identification. The issue has been in the national media in recent months as some Americans have questioned the propriety of a foreign government issuing identification-type cards to its nationals who may be in the United States illegally. Opponents of the matricula consular claim its issuance to illegal immigrants would create a de facto legal status for them.
The human relations committee members also discussed the issue of Mexican immigrants being the targets of many crimes, robberies and scams because they sometimes carry large amount of cash on their person or keep it in their homes because they have nowhere else to put it.
Other business included a discussion about an upcoming meeting between officials from Freehold Borough and Morristown.
According to Freyre, Morristown also has a large Mexican immigrant population and is working on a way to deal with the issue. He said borough officials have been impressed with what is being done in Morristown and are interested in finding out more about it.
Freyre said Morristown, a community of 18,544 residents (Freehold Borough’s 2000 census number was 10,976), has many parallels to the borough. The town is a "central hub" and is the county seat of Morris County, just as Freehold Borough is the county seat of Monmouth County.
He said Morristown, like Freehold Borough, is also a community surrounded by wealthier suburban areas. The town has links to public transportation, like the borough, which make it attractive to people who do not have their own transportation.
Freyre said a nonprofit agency called Morristown One Community has been working to bring community members together, rather than to divide them, something that issues like this can often do.
"Morristown is way ahead of us in their explorations of solutions," he said.
He said representatives of the Morristown business community and day laborers have met in an effort to integrate the laborers into the community, something that has not occurred in Freehold Borough.
Freyre said he is looking forward to learning more about the plan Morristown One Community is working on implementing.