user1111 wrote:
By Caitlin Mota
The Jersey Journal

Officers from the Jersey City Police Department made an appearance on Thursday night's episode of The Daily Show with Trevor Noah to talk about how cops police immigrant communities.

The segment focused on how the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency is using local enforcement officers to crack down on undocumented immigrants through its 287(g) program.

Correspondent Roy Wood Jr. first meets with Fred Harran, the public safety director of Bensalem, Pennsylvania and a supporter of 287(g) because it puts undocumented immigrants "in jail" or "ships them out of (the United States)" if ICE decides to deport. Police departments that participate have access to federal immigration databases.

"It saves me sometimes hours of police time waiting around for ICE to get back to us," he said.

Wood then heads to Jersey City, a designated sanctuary city where police are barred from honoring immigration detainer requests and federal immigration authorities cannot enter city buildings without a warrant. There, he meets Public Safety Director Jim Shea who says undocumented immigrants are more often victims of crime than criminals themselves.

"Our goal when we assure people that we will not check their immigration status is a safer city for everybody, officers need witnesses, officers need victims to cooperate," Shea said.

Hudson County, though, had worked with federal authorities and 287(g) for years before ending the controversial partnership with ICE in March. The county jail was one of four in New Jersey to participate, which was scrutinized by residents and immigration advocates alike.

Officer Alberto Vasquez then brings Wood on a drive through the Greenville and West Side neighborhoods of the city. "Vasquez wasted the day making friends and being nice to citizens, not deporting people," Wood says facetiously.

More