By Nick Norlen, Staff Writer
Accounts of a December raid on a Princeton Borough residence by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents portray a harrowing scene that immigrant advocates say occurs frequently statewide: ICE agents looking for a fugitive approach a residence in the early morning hours, enter without a search warrant and detain any undocumented immigrants they find at the scene — even those without criminal records.
Conducted by one of the state’s four ICE Fugitive Operation Teams, the Dec. 7 raid in Princeton netted seven undocumented Guatemalan immigrants, all of whom are now in “various stages of the removal process,” according to ICE spokesman Michael Gilhooly.
Although the raid’s targeted fugitive was not there, ICE team members “questioned the other individuals, as they have a right to under federal law,” and detained them, Mr. Gilhooly said.
It’s a scenario that Princeton’s immigrant advocates have seen before — and are grappling with again.
In 2004, ICE agents conducted a similar raid in the borough that also resulted in the arrest of several undocumented immigrants.
Afterward, the arrests — which separated family members, in at least one case — were criticized by a number of local immigrant advocates, including Ryan Lilienthal, an attorney who heads a Princeton law firm that focuses on immigration and nationality law.
Mr. Lilienthal said he gets calls to defend persons involved in such raids — from Philadelphia to New York — “on a weekly basis.”
Judging from recent statistics, those calls will keep coming.
According to ICE, the number of immigrant arrests by the New Jersey fugitive teams increased 100 percent from 2006 to 2007 — a surge Mr. Gilhooly credited to the doubling of those teams — from two to four — over the last year and a half.
In December, ICE issued a 2007 fiscal year press release announcing the detainment of 2,079 “immigration violators.”
Princeton resident Robert Ashbaugh has a different phrase for those arrested during the raids: “collateral detainees.”
Having spent portions of his career working on immigration issues in both the Justice Department and the Department of Homeland Security, Mr. Ashbaugh moved to Princeton a year ago “looking for an opportunity to stay in the subject matter.”
Since then, he became a member of the Immigration Reform Advocacy Group based at Nassau Presbyterian Church.
He said ICE raids are more about filling government-mandated quotas for rounding up large numbers of illegal immigrants, rather than locating a specific criminal.
”They say they’re looking for such and such a person,” he said, “but often the connection between that person and the place they’re going is remote.”
Mr. Ashbaugh said he doesn’t know who ICE agents were looking for Dec. 7 — and said the residents didn’t know of the man either.
Mr. Gilhooly declined to identify the fugitive target of the raid, but said he believes the individual is still at large.
But he said the fugitive teams don’t operate under quotas.
The numbers
”We don’t call them quotas in government. They are milestones that we attempt to reach,” he said. “It’s part of accountability. Certainly we have to show the Congress and the public that the money that is dedicated to all of our enforcement is being used effectively.”
Mr. Gilhooly said he is unaware if those milestones will be increased in 2008.
However, he said “those teams in New Jersey have been very effective.”
Quotas or not, fugitive teams “certainly are interested in getting large numbers of people,” said Princeton attorney Stephen Traylor, who often represents persons detained during ICE raids.
”They’re not just looking for the person that they have the warrant for,” he said. “That’s clear.”
His belief seems to be supported by ICE’s own data.
According to the December report, only approximately 13 percent — 270 out of 2,079 — of the immigrants arrested in 2007 “had criminal histories in addition to being in the country illegally.”
Still, the release cites examples of violent criminals arrested as part of the raids, including immigrants convicted of attempted murder, child abuse and aggravated assault, among other charges.
And Mr. Gilhooly said those detained during raids have often defied removal orders issued by immigration judges.
”We believe that this state is safer every time we arrest criminals who are fugitives and also immigration violators,” he said.
But immigrant advocates said most the individuals caught in ICE’s net are usually law-abiding members of their communities.
Mr. Traylor said arresting “average” undocumented immigrants is a misuse of resources.
”My opinion is they’re running out of criminals. There aren’t that many illegals with serious criminal records,” he said. “You have to have extraordinarily bad luck to be involved in these raids.”
Moreover, the volume of the arrests still doesn’t make a dent in the millions of undocumented immigrants residing in the state, according to immigrant advocate Maria Juega, co-founder of Princeton’s Latin American Legal Defense and Education Fund.
With only approximately 5,000 permanent visas available for low-skilled immigrants each year nationwide, it’s nearly impossible for most of those individuals to legalize their status, she said.
”What other possible outcome do we expect?” she said.
The aftermath
Following the 2004 raids, local employers criticized ICE officials for arresting persons who they said were hard working and devoted to their families.
While Mr. Lilienthal said that the “economy in Central Jersey relies on immigrant labor” — and that some big-name Princeton businesses have been affected by past raids — he said the “family impact is what hits hardest.”
During a raid that occurred several years ago in Princeton, “we heard about kindergarten students crying because they didn’t know if their parents would be home when they got home,” he said.
In some cases, “children are left without parents as ICE walks away with mom and dad,” he said.
But, “in fairness to ICE,” Mr. Lilienthal said, “I think they’re trying to change their policies. I think they recognize this problem.”
For instance, if both parents of a child are undocumented, “they may choose not to detain one of them, but require that individual to report to immigration on their own recognizance,” he said.
Mr. Gilhooly said “decisions on custody are based on that individual’s case.”
He said consideration is given to whether an individual is a criminal or “a flight risk,” and whether someone is the sole caregiver for a child.
”Certainly we’re human beings,” he said. “It’s an agency made up of human beings.”
Mr. Lilienthal said he hopes people remember that illegal immigrants are human beings, too.
”I think there are many in the community who want to characterize immigrants as bad people, and they’re not. I think our laws and the enforcement of our laws should reflect the type of consequences individuals face,” he said. “The question that keeps coming to my mind is: When are we in the community going to think about how much the immigration issue reflects on who we’re becoming as Americans?”
It’s a question that weights heavily for members of Mr. Ashbaugh’s group at Nassau Presbyterian.
The human aspect
Before Mr. Ashbaugh joined the group, its members — along with local attorneys and benefactors — helped to provide financial and legal assistance to an illegal immigrant from Ewing who worked in Princeton and was detained in an ICE raid in 2005.
According to Princeton resident Bill Wakefield, who is now the informal head of the group, the man detained had lived in the country for 15 years and was married to an American citizen with three children, all of whom were also citizens.
Though he arrived in the U.S. seeking political asylum from his war-torn native Guatemala, he never became a citizen, and was eventually added to the deportation list, Mr. Wakefield said.
Although there were no criminal charges filed against him, and despite initial legal efforts, he was deported after the ICE raid, Mr. Wakefield said.
”When he left, they lost more than half their income,” he added.
Eventually, after an 18-month legal struggle, the man was allowed to return after it was successfully argued that his deportation was a hardship for four U.S. citizens — his family.
”(That argument) didn’t stop the deportation, it just managed to get it reversed eventually,” Mr. Wakefield said. “If it was a single person with a deportation order against them, they wouldn’t have a prayer for fighting it or fighting their way back.”
That likely describes many of the persons detained during the most recent raid in Princeton. Of the seven who were served with deportation orders, five were taken to the Elizabeth Detention Center and two have since been deported to Guatemala.
After learning about the Dec. 7 raid, Mr. Ashbaugh and members of the advocacy group visited some of the detained persons at the Elizabeth facility, which, according to its Web site, is a “temporary detention center for individuals who are waiting for their immigration status to be determined or who are awaiting repatriation.”
Mr. Ashbaugh was able to speak with one of the persons from Princeton through the help of an interpreter, but declined to give the name of the man, noting only that he is in his early-30s, has been in the country for approximately four years, speaks no English, and had been working as a day laborer.
”I found myself liking the guy and wishing that I could talk to him — in some language. He was very matter-of-fact about his situation,” Mr. Ashbaugh said. “He didn’t have a legal basis for trying to block his deportation.”
That lack of recourse is typical of many of those arrested during ICE raids, according to Mr. Traylor and Mr. Lilienthal.
Limited options
”If they do have an order of deportation, it’s hard to do anything as a lawyer,” said Mr. Traylor.
Though residents don’t have to let agents in without a search warrant, most do, and, because they’re intimidated, they answer questions, which leads to their deportation, he said.
Mr. Traylor said he advises people faced with the situation to simply give their correct name, but not any information that will incriminate them — and even has that advice printed on the back of his business card.
To the same end, the Latin American Legal Defense and Education Fund set up a hotline — 877-4-LALDEF — that immigrants could call when ICE agents showed up at their home, Ms. Juega said.
But the system was changed because people were calling after the incident, when little could be done, and now callers only have the option to leave a message, not speak to a live operator, she said.
”There is a tremendous reluctance on the part of individuals who are involved in a raid to go public,” she said. “Most people just freeze and don’t think of picking up the phone. What we’re trying to do is educate immigrants about their rights.”
Primarily, those include the right to remain silent and the right not to self-incriminate, she said.
”They do not have to answer certain questions, neither do they have to allow immigration agents into their homes if they don’t come with a search order,” she said.
Mr. Ashbaugh said the Princeton detainee’s account of the Dec. 7 raid indicated that ICE agents waited until one of the residents opened the door to leave for work and entered the home.
Eventually, the man was told to get his documents, he said, telling Mr. Ashbaugh that he didn’t know whether any of the residents consented to the entry.
”If this were any other legal proceeding, this would be unacceptable,” said Ms. Juega, who has spoken to persons who were at the scene, some of whom are still living at the residence in the Witherspoon Street corridor.
Regardless of how agents gain entry, the game changes once undocumented immigrants are arrested, said Mr. Lilienthal.
”Unlike criminal law where a police officer needs a warrant … immigration goes after individuals for immigration violations, which are civil violations,” he said, noting that they don’t have “the same due process protections.”
Ironically, “many of these individuals would be better off, legally, if they had criminal (charges) against them, he said. “For individuals who have outstanding deportation orders, there are very limited options. Often those folks are on a fast track out of the country.”
Ms. Juega said detainees’ options depend on their circumstances, but include voluntary departure — which is often called “deportation light,” and involves the detainees paying their own way home — the rare eligibility for bail, or the formal deportation process, which typically takes one to two months.
The best lawyers can do in most cases, Mr. Lilienthal said, is to help persons leave quickly.
That’s what the one man being held at Elizabeth is trying to do, Mr. Ashbaugh said.
Since attempts to change detainment policies have proved unsuccessful, Mr. Wakefield said his group is now “trying to work to make that process as humane as it can be.”
He added, “We’re trying to give the folks at the detention center hope and (the knowledge) that someone out there cares for them.”
While meeting with the detainee from Princeton, Mr. Ashbaugh didn’t ask whether the man planned to come back, but instead “spent a lot of time trying to assess the conditions of his confinement,” he said.
Though they weren’t sure what to expect, group members found the center to be “an adequate facility,” he said.
Mr. Ashbaugh said the group now plans to visit the facility on a biweekly basis.
But he said he doesn’t expect to see the man from Princeton when he returns.
”He was simply waiting … for the next available plane,” he said. “It’s possible he could be back now.”
