Latin-American Group Withdraws Bid For Resolution Passage; Will Re-Submit

Matthew Hersh

After Township Committee declined to introduce an ordinance two weeks ago that would discourage local law enforcement from taking part in immigration raids, the Hispanic group lobbying for such a measure has withdrawn, for now, its bid for enactment.

At Township Committee's Monday night meeting, Maria Juega, of the Latin American Legal Defense and Education Fund, said the resolution would be taken back to the drawing board to be made more applicable to the Township. When a resolution was first lobbied for by immigrant attorney Ryan Lilienthal on December 6, Township Mayor Phyllis Marchand said while the Township subscribes to the beliefs and exercises the objectives put forth, the governing body did not need to introduce an official document to rubber-stamp those practices.

Representatives of the Latin American Legal Defense and Education Fund had hoped to have a resolution passed similar to one passed by the Borough last month. That immigrant reform resolution was passed in light of incidents where the federal Immigrations and Customs Enforcement (ICE) sought assistance from Borough Police in a raid on nine undocumented immigrants.

"The national government has more interest in having local law enforcers handling immigration issues," Mr. Lilienthal, a former Borough Councilman said, adding the resolution would aim to "restore the trust between the immigrant community and law enforcement."

But Edwin Schmierer, Township attorney, said that many of the objectives put forth in the Borough version of the resolution do not necessarily apply to the Township, adding that the Township had not received complaints from immigrants when it came to local law enforcement over-stepping their boundaries in immigration issues.

Between the December 6 meeting and Monday night's meeting, Mr. Schmierer said he had spoken with Lance Liverman, vice-chair of Princeton Human Services and Township Committee-man-elect, about goals human services felt were appropriate for a resolution.

But several of the original objectives put forth by the Latin American Legal Defense and Education Fund, Mr. Schmierer said, spoke of specific Borough incidents. "We couldn't relate to any of that."

"We had no firm information on any citizen complaint or immigrant complaint or otherwise from the police records," he added.

Subsequently, a draft ordinance was put together based on those findings, essentially stating that the Township would support ICE agents if they "behaved properly," Mr. Schmierer said.

Ms. Juega said Monday night while she hoped some of the more specific directives were included, she would like to have the resolution reworded and resubmitted sometime in the near future.

"We feel it would be in the best interest to have a more agreeable resolution," Mayor Marchand said, adding that "other inputs" would be considered before bringing a such a statement to the forefront.

Mr. Schmierer backed that sentiment by pointing out that any future revised resolution would include input on all sides.

"We will have plenty of time to talk," he said.