By Erin Delmore
Correspondent
“This is just one nerve center in Trump’s deportation network,” said Nedia Morsy, Make the Road youth organizer and Elizabeth resident.
Activists gathered at a federal immigration detention center in Elizabeth Thursday to protest President Trump’s immigration policy.
“On Friday, a mother here in Elizabeth had armed ICE agents knocking on her door with the help of the Elizabeth Police Department,” Morsy said.
The Trump administration is directing federal authorities to be more aggressive in terms of enforcing immigration law, widening the pool of unauthorized people likely to be targeted for deportation.
“In this new administration, anything is deportable offenses. People who are simply lacking documentation is deportable. So there’s really no distinction between serious, minor and no-crime convictions,” said Chia-Chia Wang, organizing and advocacy director at the American Friends Service Committee.
“President Trump, these people are my neighbors, they’re my friends, they are law-abiding, they pay taxes, they raise families and they build America and what you are doing is un-American,” said Sen. Ray Lesniak.
There are estimated to be 11 million unauthorized immigrants in the United States and two-thirds of those adults have been here for a decade or more. That makes enforcement of immigration law challenging. Some say that not having a path to citizenship leaves some of these people vulnerable and that might drive them deeper into the shadows.
“People are very afraid and very concerned and being afraid and concerned does not make us safe, and you’re less likely to cooperate with law enforcement or federal law enforcement or city or federal government,” Wang said.
“Our police don’t like this because it’s not helpful to law enforcement,” Lesniak said.
The Bureau of Immigration and Customs Enforcement told NJTV News, “What we are doing is business as usual.”
The question becomes whether state and local police will enforce the law — which some say is out of their purview.
“Our police are not interested in going to a person’s house who has maybe called for help because they’ve been the victim of a crime, of asking them for any documentation, they’re not going to do anything short of protecting them,” said Roselle Mayor Christine Dansereau.
Lesniak is running for governor. I asked him how he would counter the president to protect what he thinks are the best interests of this state.
“I would not allow our police force to cooperate with federal authorities except in the instances where we have criminals on our hands,” he said.
In front of the privately operated detention center, police arrested five protesters for blocking a street. Activists hoped chants could be heard within the building’s walls, which houses around 300 people awaiting court proceedings and deportation.
“Throughout my sacred scriptures, I feel like it’s a command to do something for those that are being persecuted. In this case it’s immigrants in detention centers. It’s a matter of justice,” said Rev. Carmine Pernini, pastor at Zion Evangelical Lutheran Church.