By Philip Sean Curran, Staff Writer
Mayor Liz Lempert on Monday stood by Princeton being a sanctuary city for illegal immigrants amid new focus on such towns after a woman in San Francisco was killed allegedly at the hands of an undocumented immigrant deported five prior times.
Speaking to reporters, Mayor Lempert said police have worked to build trust throughout the community, including with the immigrant population. She said it is “important for people to feel safe to report crimes to the police and to know that the police are there to protect them.”
“Pretty much every population, there’s gonna be good people and there’s gonna be bad people and criminals,” she said. “The police are there to protect the good people.”
The town declines to hand over illegals to federal immigration authorities who are caught for minor offenses. Also, police do not participate in raids or roundups of illegals by federal authorities.
Police Chief Nicholas K. Sutter, also at the mayor’s press conference, picked up on the issue. He said “our responsibility as a police department (is) to provide impartial policing to all members of our community and visitors to our community.”
“That’s what we take an oath to do,” he said. “That has to be one of our priorities.”
He said a binding directive from the state Attorney General in 2007 tells law enforcement it must notify federal immigration authorities when law enforcement arrests an undocumented immigrant for offenses ranging from drunken driving to more serious, first-degree crimes. He said those circumstances are clearly outlined in the directive.
“It doesn’t leave discretion up to the local authorities,” he said.
