Federal immigration authorities last week raided Princeton and picked up two unidentified men on Wiggins Street, the town said Monday in calling the action “unfortunate.”
The town said members of the Immigration and Customs Enforcement were waiting around 5 a.m. Thursday outside a home on Wiggins, in releasing limited details about the action.
“We have been working alongside the Police Department and community partners to get more information about this ICE activity,” the town said in a news release.
ICE has been stepping up its removal of illegal immigrants who crossed the border from Central American since January 2014 in a series of publicized raids that have drawn criticism from Democrats and Latino advocate groups nationally. The federal government has said there was a surge of people, including unaccompanied children, crossing the southern board in the spring and summer of 2014.
“I have said publicly for months that individuals who constitute enforcement priorities, including families and unaccompanied children, will be removed,” said Department of Homeland Security Secretary Jeh C, Johnson in a statement issued in January.
Princeton is one of the many sanctuary cities around the country that seek to shield illegal immigrants from deportation. It is estimated that 90 percent of the local Latino population is undocumented.
Councilwoman Heather H. Howard said Monday that the ICE raid last week was “unfortunate.”
Last month, the town staged an information session to educate the local immigrant population about what to do if approached by ICE agents.
“We recognize that these are stressful times for our community and our residents,” the town news release said.
A spokesman for ICE’s New Jersey office could not be reached for comment Monday.
