New Jersey State Orders Cops To Help U.S. Immigration Agents
The state Attorney General's Office says local police officers cannot refuse to assist federal immigration agents when they conduct raids in New Jersey.

The legal opinion could affect the way municipalities deal with illegal immigrants.

"A municipal governing body is without the authority to direct its police force to suspend the enforcement of a criminal law or to disregard an allegation of criminal activity," wrote Deputy Attorney General Dermot P. O'Grady.

O'Grady was responding to the Princeton Borough Council, which sought an opinion on banning local officers from going on immigration raids. It is believed to be the first time the state has taken a position on local police involvement in immigration enforcement.

"Absent any specific direction from the attorney general or the county prosecutors," O'Grady wrote, "all county and municipal police officers are expected to either enforce or assist other agencies in the enforcement of immigration laws."

O'Grady's letter, dated Sept. 6, threw the Princeton Borough Council into a tailspin last week, as city officials, immigration lawyers and an assistant Mercer County prosecutor tried to determine what to do next. Because the opinion repeatedly referred only to "criminal activity," the council debated whether police would be obligated to assist in the far more common immigration cases brought under civil law.

Officials at the U.S. Department of Homeland Security stress that entering the country illegally is "an administrative violation." Although a federal statute does say that "improper entry" by an alien may be punishable by a fine or imprisonment up to six months (a misdemeanor in the criminal statutes), Homeland Security officials say the offense is usually handled with deportation under the civil code.

Several council members said they realize that local police officers must arrest criminals. "But if we are not obligated to assist in the enforcement of civil laws associated with immigration, I would just [rather] not be involved," said Councilman David Goldfarb.

However, a spokesman for the Attorney General's Office said police don't have the option of choosing which laws to enforce.

"Police officers have the duty and obligation to enforce the law," said John Hagerty, the spokesman.

"Municipalities do not have the authority to regulate how police enforce the law. A municipality cannot tell police officers to ignore certain laws and enforce others.

"The attorney general sets the standard."

Drawing a distinction between the civil and criminal categories has been considered crucial by local officials in several New Jersey towns - as well as across the United States - who have argued that municipal police should not get involved in enforcing federal immigration violations that are administrative matters.

The issue reached a boiling point in New Jersey in the past year, when some towns - including Princeton - provided police support to federal immigration agents as they raided dozens of homes to arrest illegal immigrants who had ignored deportation orders. The collaboration drew bitter criticism from some community members and town officials, who said illegals would lose trust in police and be reluctant to report crimes in which they were victims or witnesses.

The deputy attorney general's opinion alarmed some Princeton officials who saw it as overly harsh and loaded with social, legal and financial ramifications.

Ryan Lilienthal, an attorney and former borough councilman who helped draft the Princeton ordinance, said he called O'Grady and asked: "Are you aware of the policy implications of what you are suggesting, or the budget implications you are suggesting for the state, the counties and municipalities?"

Lilienthal said O'Grady "clearly wasn't fully aware."

Princeton Police Chief Anthony V. Federico responded to the state ruling by drafting an order that tries to find a way to follow the law without harming the department's relationship with illegal immigrants.

"Local police agencies depend on the cooperation of immigrants, legal and illegal, in solving all sorts of crimes and in the maintenance of public order," the police chief said in the document. "Without assurances that they will not be subject to an immigration

investigation and possible deportation, many immigrants with critical information would not come forward, even when heinous crimes are committed against them or their families."