Sanctuary Criticized in Newark - Illegal Immigration & Crime

Blaming the tragedy that befell three promising Newark young adults on the United States legal system's immigration shortfalls isn't fair. However, also unfair is ignoring obvious connections between the "wink-and-nod" attitude in some of New Jersey's so-called "sanctuary communities."

Newark Mayor Cory Booker had harsh criticism for republican presidential hopeful Tom Tancredo. Booker was responding to Tancredo encouraging families of victims of recent execution style slayings to sue the city. "We don't want people coming into our community and exploiting our pain for political advantage..."

I agree with Booker, mostly. Who does Tancredo think he is anyway-Al Sharpton? Booker's righteous indignation and my satirical Sharpton bashing not withstanding there is merit to at least part of Tancredo's argument. Opportunistic or not, Tancredo should be admonished for his timing, not his message.

Tancredo isn't the first politician to suggest a connection between the Newark tragedy and illegal immigration. Shortly after the tragedy, on August 11, 2007 speaking to a group in Ames Iowa; former Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich called for emergency legislation requiring anyone arrested for a felony to immediately have their legal status checked. "We cannot expect Mayor [Cory] Booker to defend Newark if the government of the United States does not defend America..." said Gingrich.

Oddly on August 10, 2001 another suspect in this grisly crime, a 15 year old boy, was apprehended in Morristown, NJ. Morristown Mayor Don Cresitello has been under fire since earlier this year when he sought 287(g) status for his local police. The mayor, who is politically a liberal democrat, was accused by immigrant rights groups of pandering to the local and national outcry over illegals and jobs.

Lost in the protest, demonstrations and name calling was a 2001 case in Morristown in which an illegal immigrant was arrested for killing a 10 year-old Morristown boy. The suspect had previously been arrested twice for incidents involving knives but was released from jail and permitted to stay in the US despite being an illegal alien. Morristown and Newark are not isolated in such cases.

In New Brunswick, Ricardo Cepates, an illegal immigrant from Honduras, already had an outstanding deportation order when he was arrested for holding a knife to a woman's throat in 1998. But he, too, was released. In 2004, he was convicted as a serial rapist who had terrorized the city for two years. Who is failing; police and prosecutors, US Immigration and Customs Enforcement, politicians?

Should local police contact federal authorities whenever they arrest a crime suspect with uncertain immigrations status? The answer depends on who you ask.

In the case of Carranza, immigration authorities say that the Essex County prosecutor, Paula Dow, did not notify them after his previous arrests. At a news conference Ms. Dow declined to answer whether her office reported Carranza's illegal status after his two previous arrests. According to Paul Loriquet, a spokesman for Dow's office the policy was to refer cases of illegal aliens to federal immigration authorities only after the defendant is convicted and sentenced.

Marc Raimondi, a spokesman for U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) said while generally immigration authorities wait until after a defendant has served their sentence before deporting them, they have the authority to keep immigrants from being freed on bail pending case resolution. In fact, immigration authorities can still deport a defendant who has been acquitted.

So with all these safeguards and procedures why was Carranza free on the night he allegedly participated in the heinous murder of three promising Newark college students? As in many so called "sanctuary cities" police in Newark have long resisted taking a greater role in immigration enforcement. Immigration advocates generally condemn partnerships between local police and immigration agents citing possible civil rights abuses. These groups also believe that if local and county authorities are viewed as quasi-immigration agents, immigrants (illegal and legal) will be reluctant to come forward as crime victims or witnesses.

Mayor Booker seems to agree. "I don't want to create a chill in my community where people are afraid to come forward to police and report crimes...Undocumented immigrants and immigrants within our city are an important part of our fabric. And my police department, it [immigration enforcements] is not their role or responsibility."

The mayor is only partly right. His police department and prosecutors primary responsibility is administrating law and order while protecting the citizens of Newark. However, given the fate that four of Newark's citizens Booker and other American mayors might want to consider Illegal Immigration enforcement a part of keeping to that responsibility. "Sanctuary communities" not only fuel the animosity toward immigrants (legal or not) but they make communities less safe for all citizens in our cities and country-immigrants included.