Crowd Demands of Freeholders: ‘No ICE,’ Sheriff’s Request: Three Corrections Officers

CREST HAVEN – The crowd demanded to be heard at the Feb. 28 freeholders’ meeting, but not about the county’s $146.3 million budget that will hike the tax rate by under a half cent. That passed without quiz or protest. 
The mass’ ire zeroed in on a little-known proposal by County Sheriff Gary Schaffer to have three corrections officers trained by federal Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) to detect illegal immigrants.
Not since Aug. 25, 2015, has the freeholder meeting room experienced sign-carrying protesters. That was when Wildwood opponents of Cape Assist’s plans to locate a family support center aired sentiments.
The Feb. 28 delegation toted signs stating, “No ICE” and similar slogans. 
Fred Long, of Cold Spring, was the first to voice opposition against a program known as “287(g).” Long quizzed Freeholder Director Gerald Thornton, “Has the county or Sheriff’s Department made application to participate in 287(g)?”
“Yes, they made an application,” Thornton replied.
“Has it been approved?” Long continued. “Not as of right now,” Thornton said. The request is reported to be under review at the federal level.
“There are many reasons not to proceed with 287(g),” Long continued. Among them were economic and community relations, a heightened distrust of law enforcement and legal reasons, he said.
Long recalled 1942 when he was in fifth grade. President Roosevelt signed Executive Order 9066 that rounded up 120,000 Japanese-Americans, many of them were American citizens.
He also cited what happened that year in Paris, France when the Germans directed French police to round up 15,000 Paris Jews and put them on trains to Auschwitz.
“This could be the beginning of a very slippery slope. I urge you not to proceed with this application, and not make county law enforcement people into agents of the federal immigration service,” Long concluded.
His address was accorded a round of applause.
Attorneys Jeffrey Sutherland and Frank Corrado followed Long.
Sutherland focused on the proposal’s impact on primarily Hispanic people.
Corrado cited three reasons against taking the action:
“It’s expensive and unnecessary, the county would absorb the cost in toto,” he said.
“There are better uses for the county’s law enforcement resources than contributing to federal immigration enforcement,” he continued.
“Thirty-three communities throughout the nation have entered an agreement. They see it as duplicative and unnecessary,” he said.
Georgina Shanley of Ocean City said, “We don’t have a lot of heinous crimes. We haven’t seen that many killings or shootings…We are a tourist-based economy.” She cited many immigrants who work in the area’s restaurants, hotels and farms. “People who may or may not be documented,” she added.
“I tell you in Ocean City, this has created a very dark and terrifying time for my neighbors and friends,” said Dr. Steven Fenichel. He said some of those undocumented people, who witness crimes, may be unwilling to report them, fearing they will be deported.
“You’re putting people deeper and deeper in little holes, and that is a very unhealthy society,” Fenichel said.
“I pay federal and county taxes,” said Scott Wolf of West Cape May. “If Cape May County has excess capacity I would just as soon have my taxes lowered.”
Freeholder Jeffrey Pierson, a former undersheriff at the county correctional center, said the three corrections officers involved in the proposal “process the inmates into jail. They are the first person they (inmates) see. They go through an extensive questioning process.”
Pierson cited the 1993 bombing of the World Trade Center and reminded the crowd that one of the bombers involved in that had been caught at a North Wildwood motel, and had been incarcerated in the county jail.
“There are bad people who come into that jail, murderers and gang members,” Pierson continued.
“It’s an incarceration process. They are not going on the street. They do it in the correctional facility,” he added.
“Understand anybody arrested if there are warrants, federal or other, (the officers) have an obligation to enforce those warrants…They are corrections officers (who work in the correctional center). They are not stopping people on the street,” said Thornton.
No action was taken by the board, although Shanley had pressed for a resolution opposing the sheriff’s request to link with ICE.
“You already made up your minds; you have destroyed a lovely place,” said Ruth Eaves of Marmora, the last speaker.
Schaffer was on vacation in Florida, according to Thornton.
According to the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement website, Hudson County Department of Corrections, Monmouth County Sheriff’s Office and Salem County Sheriff’s Office are among 37 law enforcement agencies in 16 states that have agreements with ICE. That entity has trained and certified more than 1,822 state and local officers to enforce immigration law.