by
N:
Morristown, New Jersey occupies less than 3 square miles. Only about 20,000 people live here, and the city has a sleepy small town feel, with wide streets lined with 19th century homes and steepled churches.
But Morristown's Mayor, Donald Cresitello, believes the town is in danger of losing its historic charm.
A: CRESITELLO: I feel violated. By the invasion, and it is an invasion, and it's wrong. But I'm prepared to deal with it.
N: Cresitello is talking about Morristown's newcomers: illegal immigrants, mostly from Guatemala, Columbia, and Honduras. Each morning, clusters of men crowd street corners across from the train station, waiting for contractors to hire them for day jobs on one of Morristown's many construction projects: luxury condominiums and new hotels. One third of the town's residents are now Latino. Giovanni is one recent arrival from the Honduras who says it's been easy to find construction jobs most mornings for the three years he's lived in Morristown.
[sound: trucks]
A: Depende, hay gente hay 200 or 300 personas aka. Si, un hombre van aqui, le pregunte uno a quiere a trabajar en construccion, esta bien…
A man comes here, and asks someone if he'd like to work in construction, and it's good… there are generally 200-300 day laborers here.
N: Morristown resident Karen Maxim says locals call this informal employment center the "problem on the corner."
A: MAXIM (0:26): The problem on the corner is that we have day workers waiting on the corner for work, and that causes a conflict in the community, and the conflict in the community can be well, it's the opinion that it's not safe if cars are stopping in the middle of Morris Street, it's the feeling of the business owners that they don't want workers waiting in front of their work, it's some people feeling they don't like those people standing in front looking like we're not a luxury town…
N: Many towns across the country face similar conflicts over illegal immigration. But Mayor Cresitello has adopted a new strategy for dealing with Morristown's newcomers. Last month, he applied to participate in a federal program called 287(g). The program is run out of the Department of Homeland Security's Immigration and Customs Enforcement division, or ICE.
The voluntary program allows local cops to take on the role of federal immigration officers, to demand that people prove their citizenship status, and start deportation proceedings if they can't. In other words, according to James Carafano (CARE-A-FAUN-O), of the conservative Heritage Foundation…
A: CARAFANO: They're being deputized. It's kind of like a switch that you can turn on and turn off. Basically when they want to they can basically have the authorities of the ICE agent.
N:
287-G has been part of federal law since1996, but no towns had applied for it until last year. That's when President Bush urged local governments to sign up for the program when he spoke to the nation about his comprehensive immigration reform plans. One town, Herndon, Virginia, applied in October, and its application was approved last month. Now, Morristown could become the second town in the United States to deputize its police officers.
Morristown's Mayor Cresitello says he applied for 287(g) because he was frustrated by what he says is the federal government's failure to deal with illegal immigration…and because some residents are upset about the problem on the corner. He says he repeatedly heard comments like these, made during an April town council meeting…
A: TOWNCOUNCIL3:
I live in a beautiful neighborhood, or a once beautiful neighborhood,that is now been plagued by many many problems due to the recent immigrants… I've lived in Morristown my entire life. My daughter who is 17 cannot walk down the street, or I won't let her walk down the street because there are so many strangers around …
A: TOWNCOUNCIL2:
This is not an issue of race or bigotry or gestapo- tactics. The truth of this matter is these people come here and they take jobs that Americans will do but they won't do it for the wages that these people work at..we need to find a way for these people to come out of the shadowsto get they should go home and get back in line like everyone else who wants to be in this country.
[applause]
[SOUND: hymn, Spanish, fade up mid-narration]
N: Morristown's immigrants are equally emotional. Hundreds of residents, led by local religious leaders, have held a series of vigils. The first was held a few days after the mayor announced his application for 287(g). Resident Omar Vargas joined over 200 people in the rain as they prayed, cried, and held signs reading, "Forgive them Lord, for they know not what they do," and "We have the right to live without fear."
[SOUND PRAYER SONG UP 3 sec THEN FADE]
A: VARGAS: We are protesting, pacifically, the proposition of the mayor…he says that he wants to stop the contractors from hiring the illegal people on the corner, but we think that all of that's going to take to profile, to racial profiling, he says no, but we all know that's going to happen. It's about racist.. People are scared. Some people have already left town. Some people are afraid to go outside, it's just not fair.
N: Immigrants at the vigil emphasized that they are not criminals.
A: Espanish no criminals no pow pow pow, no killing people!
N: Luis Alvador has lived in Morristown for 5 years. He came here illegally, but now has a green card. He says the mayor's message is: get out.
A: ALVADOR: They no want us in here. They no want any Spanish people, and I think they don't know who's legal and whose illegal.
[FADE SOUND]
N: One thing that people on both sides of the immigration debate agree on is that Morristown's fight is much bigger than Morristown. Gayle Kesselman is the co-founder of New Jersey Citizens for Immigration Control, a statewide group. The group's goal for 2007 is to use Morristown as a model.
A: KESSELMAN: It's probably the best-kept secret in law enforcement. But now of course, the secret is out… This is our project for the year. We want to see the 287G implemented in towns and counties all through New.Jersey.
N: Activists who oppose illegal immigration have been looking for new ways to to sidestep what they see as a tepid federal response to the problem, according to the Heritage Foundation's Carafano.
A: CARAFANO: So it's a national problem that's outgrown the federal government's ability to manage, I don't' think there's any question about that. We just flat haven't done a good job enforcing immigration law in this country…
N: But policy analysts like Michele Wucker (WOO-KER) of the Immigration Policy Center believes that 287(g) actually makes communities like Morristown less safe.
A: WUCKER: Some towns are trying to make policy based on emotion, which is a very very bad idea. Police depend very much on trust with the communities that they serve. And if immigrants are afraid that if they come into contact with police they are going to be asked about their immigration status and possibly at risk of detention and deportation they are far less likely to come forward to report crimes or give information that it's important in solving crimes…
N: Wucker also believes that police should focus on stopping crime …
A: WUCKER: …instead of coming up and going after guys who are barbequing in their backyards, or driving to work…it just doesn't make sense!
N: Cresitello acknowledges that his application for 287(g) was in part symbolic. But he believes that his strategy has already been effective. He says that there are fewer day laborers in town, because people are now afraid to look for work on the streets of Morristown.
A: CRESITELLO: Theres no doubt that 287g will send a message. The fact that we're just discussing it, I know the street population has dropped probably by 170 people in less than 2 weeks. And that's quite an accomplishment.
N: On an early Tuesday morning two weeks after Cresitello announced his application for 287(g), men still stood in groups of three to six across from the train station. They were still waiting for work, watching cars and trucks barrel down the road. But today, no one was stopping. Men like Raul, who didn't want to give his last name, were worried.
A: RAUL: Aqui… pues.. Horita en esta momento, no hay trabajo…
At this moment, we don't have work.
N: Raul had been waiting here since 7 in the morning. Four hours later, he was still waiting. On a good day, he earns up to $100. But since Mayor Cresitello applied for 287(g), Raul has not had many good days.
A: RAUL:: Todo que la vea aqui andando son gente so sencilla. Ahorita mucho gente tiene miedo, no sale, estan sufriendo, tenien hambre.
All the people you see walking here are simple people. Now a lot of people
are afraid, they don't go out, they're suffering, they're hungry.
N: Morristown's application for 287(g) is currently pending with the Immigration and Customs Enforcement division of the Department of Homeland Security. It may take six months for the federal agency to decide whether or not Morristown becomes the second town in the country to be approved for the program.
SOC: Sitara Nieves, Columbia Radio News.
-30-