[nyfoil-l] 3/27 Morristown, NJ: City council endorses immigrant crackdown, TAKE ACTION!

Wed Mar 28 01:38:30 CDT 2007

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3/27 Morristown, NJ: City council  endorses Racist anti-immigrant crackdown, 
your actions is  needed!

We encourages you to call, write and e-mail to the Morristown Mayor  Donald 
Cresitello to protest their racist anti-immigrant  decision:

Mayor Donald Cresitello
Town Of Morristown
200 South Street, CN 914 
Morristown, NJ 07963-0914

e-mail: _mayor at townofmorristown.org_ (mailto:mayor at townofmorristown.org) 
Tel: (973)292-6629

Morristown council endorses immigrant  crackdown

Maura McDermott 
The Star-Ledger 
March 27, 2007

_http://blog.nj.com/ledgerupdates/2007/03/morristown_council_endorses_im.html_

(http://blog.nj.com/ledgerupdates/2007/03/morristown_council_endorses_im.html) 

The Morristown Council voted 6-1 tonight to endorse the mayor's effort to  
get the town's police deputized as federal immigration officers despite a  
protest by hundreds of people. 

"We are looking for law-breakers and that is it," said Councilman Dick  
Tighe. "We're trying to take criminals off the streets, we're trying to take  
criminals out of the country." 

Mayor Donald Cresitello has asked the federal Immigration and Customs  
Enforcement to train and deputize up to 10 officers so they could charge  suspects 
with immigration violations and order them to appear in federal court,  which 
could ultimately lead to deportation. 

The mayor's action did not require the council's consent, but the panel  
tonight signaled its approval of his move. 

If the town's effort is successful, Morristown could be among the  nation's 
first municipalities to gain such powers. Only 10 law enforcement  agencies now 
participate in the federal program: Florida and Alabama state  police, and 
eight correctional institutions. About 20 municipalities have  applied, 
according to ICE. 

The overflow crowd tonight spilled into the town hall lobby, where  officials 
had rigged up loudspeakers in advance, and onto the steps of town  hall, 
where 200 to 300 protesters chanted and carried signs. The protesters  delivered 
petitions they said were signed by more than 3,300 Morristown  residents and 
about 600 others who oppose the town's action. 

"Our Morristown community will be even more racially divided than it  already 
is," said Xiomara Guevara, executive director of the Morris County  
Organization for Hispanic Affairs. "This community will be known statewide as a  racist 
and nontolerant community." 

Protesters will return to the twice monthly council meetings until the  town 
backs down, said Stuart Sydenstricker, a member of Wind of the Spirit, a  
local immigrant resource center helping to organize opposition. 

"Morristown is being watched from all over the country," Sydenstricker  said. 
"If it happens here, it will happen other places." 

But supporters of the town's action turned out in force, too, arguing  the 
town needs to crack down on illegal immigration. 

"I've heard a lot of comments how we're a nation of immigrants, said  Gayle 
Kesselman, co-chair of New Jersey Citizens for Immigration Control in  
Carlstadt. "The fact is, we're also a nation of laws." 

"This program will be used to deport violent criminals, not to conduct  
sweeps," she said. "We're talking about violent criminals that shouldn't be here  
in the first place." 

Morristown's critics fail to understand the gravity of the problems  caused 
by illegal immigration, Cresitello said today. 

"Maybe some of these people who live outside the community, if they had  to 
have people invading their homes and passing out drunk and disorderly on  their 
lawns, they might feel the same way those residents of Morristown do who  are 
subjected to those kinds of conditions," Cresitello said before the meeting. 

Police Chief Peter Demnitz has said the program may not be right for  the 
town, since residents who are crime victims or witnesses might fear going to  
police. The department already refers suspects to ICE and, in one case, a known  
gang member was deported, according to Demnitz. 

Several council members said they support the mayor's effort to crack  down 
on illegal immigrants, in spite of vocal opposition. 

The influx of immigrants -- many of them in the country illegally -- is  
burdening the town with overcrowded homes, unsafe conditions and higher costs,  
such as a sharp increase in the number of schoolchildren who qualify for free  
lunches, Tighe said. 

He rejected accusations that the move is racist. 

Critics, Tighe said, "don't have a clue what this town is about, not a  clue, 
and they should get out of town, too." 

=================================================================
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