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Palmer said he had been told by community activist groups and by Councilman-at-Large Manuel Segura that "tremendous pain and fear" has permeated the immigrant communities ever since federal night raids last summer resulted in the arrest and deportation of numbers of illegal aliens -- to the point that immigrants are afraid to report crimes, enroll their children in school, or even see a doctor.
"Kids aren’t even going to school ..." Palmer said. "Sick little children aren’t being taken to the doctor.
"We have not been doing enough. We’ve got to reach way down into the immigrant community to explain what their rights are. This is an issue that affects everyone. This is a human rights issue."
Palmer said that while the executive order is designed to cover practical health and law enforcement issues, "It is critically important that we ensure good relationships with all residents in order to get tips and information about actual crimes.
"Communities where people are afraid to report crimes are unsafe and unstable," Palmer added. "When rape, prostitution, domestic violence, theft, robbery, or beatings occur in the immigrant community, we want our response to be just as timely and as helpful as can be.
"In fact, it is both our obligation and the individual immigrant’s right."
Councilman Segura said the order’s intention is for the city to protect immigrants, "whether they have the right papers or not."
He charged the raids into the homes "stripped away all dignity of the people living there; they were treated like dogs."
"These are people who get up at 6 o’clock in the morning every single day, who work three jobs to get by," Segura said. "This is what made my needle go to red. They should be protected."
Rachel Adler, a professor at The College of New Jersey and coordinator of the Immigrant’s Public Action Coalition of Trenton (ImmPACT) that researched the issue, said she’d taken testimonials from immigrants whose houses had been raided.
"They said theagents came in the middle of the night , with vests on that said, ‘POLICE,’ and they woke people from their beds, and used Mace, and scared the children," she said.
"There was an overuse of force. It made you wonder, Is this Nazi Germany? What country are we living in?"
The order guaranteed immigrants would have access to city services regardless of their immigration status, "without negative consequences to their personal lives." The services guaranteed include:
- Police and fire services
- General medical, mental health and public health services at clinics and emergency medical assistance, nutrition programs, programs for women and infants and children and for the disabled;
- Services dealing with non-conforming landlords, real estate tax payments or water/sewer bills, labor and employment enforcement, and access to the courts, schools, transportation services, shelter services and emergency disaster relief.
Other highlights include:
- Information in city files about an immigrant’s status will now be kept confidential, and only disseminated as required by law in the investigation of a case of illegal activity -- other than mere status as an undocumented alien -- or potential terrorist activity.
- City employees other than police officers "shall not inquire about a person’s immigration status" unless that information is necessary for the determination of program, service or benefit eligibility."
- Another section ordered that "Citizen children of undocumented parents have the same rights to public benefits as all other U.S. citizens. Undocumented parents may apply for their citizen children."
- Also, "A city employee required to establish the identity of a person seeking city services shall accept as valid photo identification."
Police officers are barred from inquiring about the immigration status of crime victims, witnesses, or others who call or approach them for help, unless they are investigating illegal activity.
But they "shall continue to cooperate with federal authorities in investigating and apprehending aliens suspected of criminal activity," the order added.
Lawyer Ryan Lilienthal, a member of ImmPACT, told how the raids occurred at the beginning of Immigration and Naturalization Service and Homeland Security’s anti-terrorist enforcement.
"Sometimes the immigration agents describe themselves as police, and it undermines the trust of local law enforcement," he said. "So when immigrants are victims or witnesses of crimes, they don’t come forward to police. And that creates a safety hazard.
"There’s an undermining of trust in the community. When there’s a fire in the house, they don’t call the fire department. When someone has a medical emergency, like a heart attack at home, they’re not calling the ambulance."
Lilienthal said he feared being a victim of a crime in which the only witness was an immigrant who was too afraid to come forward to police.
The order will restore trust in the immigrant community, he said.
Palmer said Community Organizer Juan Martinezcalled him regarding robberies in South Trenton in which perpetrators believed immigrants were easy victims, because they’d be afraid to report crimes to police, for fear they’d be asked about their immigrant status, and be deported.
Palmer praised City Recreation Director Frances E. Blanco for coordinating research and institution of the policy among five departments of city government.
