Federal Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers were reported to have conducted targeted activity in Hopewell Township near the Hopewell Borough border on April 29, according to the Hopewell Township Police Department.
A vehicle had been stopped in Hopewell Borough and two persons were detained, police said. The enforcement action did not involve the Hopewell Township Police Department, which was notified of ICE’s activity around 8:30 a.m.
“The Hopewell Township Police Department did not participate in the activity, nor were we requested during their operation,” Police Chief James Rosso said.
The Hopewell Township Police Department abides by the New Jersey Attorney General’s Immigration Trust Directive, Rosso said. It was incorporated into the police department’s standard operating procedure in 2019.
Police officers protect the public by investigating state criminal offenses and enforcing state criminal laws, according to the police department’s standard operating procedure. Police officers are not responsible for enforcing civil immigration violations, except in narrowly defined circumstances.
“Although officers should assist federal immigration authorities when required to do so by law, they should be mindful that providing assistance above and beyond those requirements threatens to blur the distinctions between state and federal actors and between federal immigration law and state criminal law. It also risks undermining the trust between the local law enforcement community and the public,” according to the police department’s standard operating procedure.
Nothing in the New Jersey Attorney General Directive or the police department’s standard operating procedure restricts police officers from complying with the requirements of federal law or valid court orders, including judicially-issued arrest warrants for individuals – regardless of immigration status, the police department’s standard operating procedure said.
A judicially-issued arrest warrant is issued by a federal or state judge. It is not the same as a civil immigration detainer or a civil administrative warrant, both of which are issued by federal immigration officers. Under federal and state law, police officers are not required to enforce those detainers or warrants.
The ICE activity that occurred on April 29 was a federal immigration operation, and no other information was available.
