Local police feel burden of state directive to check legal residence

In serious crimes and drunken driving cases, an order to determine immigrant status

By: Nick Norlen
   Wednesday’s state attorney general directive — requiring law enforcement officials to inquire about suspects’ legal residence status in some cases — has left Princeton’s two police chiefs with questions and immigrant advocates with concerns.
   Issued by state Attorney General Anne Milgram in the wake the arrest of illegal immigrants in connection to the murder of three Newark college students, the directive mandates that police officers inquire about immigration status of individuals charged with "indictable" criminal offenses or arrested for driving while intoxicated.
   Officers with "reason to believe that the person may not be lawfully present in the United States" must notify the Immigration Customs Enforcement agency and the court, the directive states.
   Although they said they plan to comply with the directive, Princeton Township Police Chief Mark Emann and Princeton Borough Police Chief Anthony Federico said they are going to seek more information about how the directive should be enforced.
   "It’s vague on how do we verify how someone is an illegal alien," Chief Federico said. "What we need as (proof of) what their immigration status is, I don’t know that yet."
   Chief Emann said he had similar questions about what kind of documentation officers should ask for.
   "I’m sure there’s going to be a lot of questions about what is valid, what’s acceptable as being legal or not," he said. "You don’t want it to come down to interpretation. I’d like to have something clear."
   Chief Federico said he expects the directive to be discussed during the monthly Mercer County Police Chiefs meeting, scheduled for Sept. 13.
   "The attorney general directive usually goes to the prosecutor’s office and then the prosecutor will clarify or instruct on how they would like the orders followed," he said.
   Mercer County Prosecutors Office Spokesman Angelo Onofri said the office is indeed working on clearing up any confusion.
   "Hopefully the answers to some of the technical questions will be forthcoming," he said.
   In addition, State Attorney General’s Office spokesman David Wald said additional information was sent out to prosecutors Friday.
   Despite the confusion, the chiefs said that at least a few things are certain.
   "It’s very clear that there’s not to be any racial profiling," Chief Federico said.
   Chief Emann added that the directive also states that officers should not inquire about the immigration status of victims, witnesses, or those requesting police assistance.
   "(The directive) spells out drunk drivers and people who commit indictable offenses and that’s it," he said. "We’re going to follow that bright line."
   Noting that his department has never been "interested in a person’s legal status when dealing with the public," Chief Emann said he hopes the directive doesn’t set back the officers’ relationship with Princeton’s diverse community.
   "My officers in this police department have made great strides in the community," he said. "We’ve got a good rapport with the Princeton community and we’re hoping that this directive doesn’t undo a lot of the work that we’ve done."
   A similar concern was expressed by Maria Juega, co-founder and treasurer of the Latin American Legal Defense and Education Fund, a nonprofit organization committed to defending civil rights and increasing access to education for the Latin American community in the Princeton area.
   She said the directive "puts a serious burden on the shoulders of local police officers, which, for the most part, want to have good relationships with the community."
   Although the directive states that questions about immigration status should only be posed to those arrested on specific, "serious criminal charges," Ms. Juega said she fears it doesn’t prevent officers from acting outside of those parameters.
   "My sense is that many cops are going to go ahead and refer anyway because they have nothing to lose, other than some additional paperwork," she said. "It may even produce an incentive to use it as a tool to get rid of certain people by simply charging them an with indictable offense whether the incident warrants it or not."
   Moreover, she said the directive’s intended protection of witnesses and those seeking help from police might not be stringent enough.
   "Some of the language is very affirmative in favor of protecting witnesses and victims from inquiry and trying to make them feel safe to have contact with the police," she said. "But in reality and in the day-to-day work of the police, particularly in the beginning of stages of resolving an incident, sometimes it’s difficult to determine who is the victim and who is the aggressor and who is the witness."
   Ms. Juega said she would like to see the directive revised with the addition of a more specific list of offenses as well as putting the decision to refer illegal immigrants in the hands of a judge, rather than the arresting officer.
   "What happened in Newark recently pointed to some weaknesses in the judicial system, in the bail system — more importantly in general," she said. "Clearly, serious criminals, whether they’re documented or not, need to be more controlled. I am in total support of referring criminal immigrants to immigration authorities if they have been convicted of a serious crime."
   But the directive has serious flaws, she said.
   "I’m not sure we’re going to accomplish a higher level of safety with this directive for the community," she said. "It’s just going to not solve the problem of alienation that immigrant communities live under."
   To address those issues, Ms. Juega said her organization plans to meet with area police departments "to have a good understanding of how they’re going to implement this policy at the local level."
   She said she will then "suggest a community meeting to make sure that everybody understands what this means and that we preserve good community relations between the police and the community."
   Although the directive also sets guidelines for municipalities that enter into a written "Memoranda of Agreement" with the Immigration Customs Enforcement agency, neither the borough nor the township fall into that category, the chiefs said.
   Despite the questions and concerns, "the directive does take effect immediately," Chief Federico said. "Whatever it is, we have to do it."
   Chief Emann added, "We’re formulating policy right now. We’re working on a directive and training as we speak."