JOURNEY OF HOPE: Thirty individuals, including 11 undocumented youth and allies, demanding a clean DREAM Act and the right to stay home, stopped in Princeton on Saturday on their 15-day walk from New York to Washington, D.C. and enjoyed the hospitality of volunteers and the Princeton Nassau Presbyterian Church for dinner and shelter. (Photo by Veronica Olivares-Weber and Shelby Guzman)

By Donald Gilpin

With immigration proposals failing in Congress last week and two separate federal courts having blocked President Trump from ending Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA), federal efforts to resolve immigration issues may remain bogged down, but local organizations and individuals are taking action.

Latin American Legal Defense and Education Fund (LALDEF) Executive Director Adriana Abizadeh, Princeton Police Chief Nick Sutter, and local activist and Mercer County Fair and Welcoming Coalition (FWC) leader Fatima Mughal spoke to a group of about 50 concerned citizens at the Unitarian Universalist Church on Monday night in a presentation on “Supporting Immigrants in the Trump Era: Local and State Policy Initiatives,” sponsored by Indivisible Princeton.

Focusing on the New Jersey Alliance for Immigrant Justice (NJAIJ) initiative to get driver’s licenses for undocumented immigrants, Abizadeh urged support of the New Jersey Safe and Responsible Driver Act, Legislative Bill 1738, which would allow driver’s licenses for New Jersey residents who cannot prove lawful presence in the United States.

With seven sponsors, led by Assemblywoman Annette Quijano, and 10 cosponsors, the bill, which has bipartisan support, would serve both undocumented immigrants and others who have difficulty accessing necessary documents. It would, Abizadeh pointed out, create safer roads, with all required to take the driver’s test, as well as providing an economic boost to the insurance industry, the possibility of reduced insurance premiums, and significant overall economic benefits to the state.

Abizadeh added that Governor Phil Murphy supports this bill, and “we have a strong chance of seeing these licenses in the state before the end of the year. We need Republicans and Democrats to pass this.”

Claiming ”20 years on the front lines on the issue,” Sutter spoke about the history and rationale for Princeton Police Department (PPD) policies and procedures concerning immigrants.

“It’s about mission,” he said, emphasizing the importance of establishing trust and belief in their legitimacy in the community. He read the PPD mission statement, which is posted on the
department website, “to protect the lives, property, and rights of all people; maintain an ethical environment of mutual respect, trust, and dignity; foster a partnership with the community we serve; and improve the quality of life for all within the community.”

“We don’t want people to fear us,” he said. “We want to help people.” Pointing out that immigration law enforcement is outside their mission, Sutter said, “We’re not trained in it. Just like we don’t enforce tax laws.” He explained that the PPD policy has evolved over the past 20 years in consultation with the community, Princeton Human Services, and experts on immigration law.

“We don’t engage in immigration enforcement,” he said. “We’re not charged with that and it would diminish our effectiveness in our community.”

He added that the results of their hard work and outreach attempts to establish trust were manifested in the responses to a community survey. Issued in both English and Spanish, the survey received no responses in Spanish in 2013. Four years later, however, there were nearly 200 responses in Spanish from the Princeton community.

Sutter reported that there have been two immigration actions by Immigration Customs Enforcement (ICE) officials in Princeton in 2018, both on the same day. The PPD gets information from federal authorities and makes it public, he said. “We’re notified by ICE, but we are not involved. We are not arresting anyone, but we’re there for public safety reasons. We also go in to assist on the social services side, to make sure that people left behind have access to Human Services, that they have the sustenance and information they need. We’re there for our community. That’s our mission.”

In answering questions from the audience following the speakers’ presentations, Sutter pointed out the difference between a judicial warrant issued by a judge and a request from another law enforcement individual to detain a person. With a warrant, “we have no discretion,” he said, but a detainer is not a warrant and it’s a violation of the fourth amendment to hold a person without a warrant.

“It’s not that we don’t cooperate,” he added. “We follow the law. We follow the attorney general’s guidelines.”

Following Sutter’s presentation, Mughal updated the group on what the FWC is doing in various communities throughout Mercer County. In conjunction with the NJAIJ and the ACLU, the FWC has been meeting with police and other public officials in the towns of Mercer County to demand transparency and fairness for immigrants in compliance with federal and state laws.

Mughal will join the FWC this Thursday in Trenton to address a meeting of the Mercer County freeholders on behalf of immigrants living in the county. “We’re living in a time when nothing is normal anymore,” Mughal said. “We want to be able to do whatever we can to help our neighbors.”

Meanwhile, in the last weeks leading up to the March 5 deadline when DACA is scheduled to end, 30 individuals on “The Walk to Stay Home: A Journey of Hope” continue on their 250-mile trek from New York to Washington D.C.

The group, organized by the Seed Project with the support of the #Our Dream Campaign to draw attention to the need for Congress to take action and provide permanency to the DACA program, stopped in Princeton last Saturday, spending the night at the Princeton Nassau Presbyterian Church and enjoying dinner and breakfast before departing the following morning for Philadelphia. Donations came in from all over the community, with dinner provided by Lucy’s Kitchen and coffee by Small World.