The Hudson County Sheriff’s Office formally released guidance on how their officers will interact with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents after at incident at the county courthouse.

By Dan Israel/Hudson County View

“We have accounts from county employees suggesting that some officers may have covered up ICE activity on county property. This is just one week after the county resolution and executive order were passed banning ICE from county property,” said Jersey City resident Courtney Walker at Thursday’s board of commissioners meeting.

She referenced an executive order last month by Hudson County Executive Craig Guy, as well as a resolution from the commissioners, banning ICE and U.S. Customs and Border Patrol (CBP) agents from operating on county property.

In the wake of the executive order, some residents and immigrant advocates have been lambasting the move, as we all other subsequent actions, as delayed and unenforceable.

At the podium Thursday, Walker questioned the standing agreement between the Hudson County Sheriff’s Office and the County Executive’s Office, under which the sheriff is supposed to inform the county executive of whenever ICE is present in Hudson County.

However, she said that several of her Open Public Records Act (OPRA) requests were met with the response that “there is no standing written agreement that qualifies under OPRA.”

According to Walker, the only concrete measure offered by the county so far, amid two committees formed and other actions, was restricting federal immigration enforcement on county-owned property.

However, she said that measure is already facing enforcement problems after an ICE agent entered the county courthouse on Friday, February 6th and sheriff’s officers reportedly “did not know how to respond.”

Walker slammed what she sees as the sheriff’s office cooperating with ICE voluntarily, which violates state law under the Immigrant Trust Directive.

After hearing of ICE at the courthouse, she went to check it out herself and spotted a black SUV outside the main entrance.

While the vehicle left shortly after, Walker said county employees approached her and other ICE rapid responders outside to let them know a second suspected ICE vehicle was parked in a county lot: a white unmarked van with tinted windows.

She said they alleged that sheriff’s officers were concealing the fact that the unrecognized vehicle was parked there, which she reiterated would be illegal under state law.

Walker concluded by: calling for sheriff’s officers suspected of cooperating with ICE to undergo an internal review and face disciplinary action if violations of state law are confirmed; demanding regular trainings for sheriff’s officers on how to interact with ICE; and asked for the sheriff’s office to publish their policy clearly and in writing.

Jersey City resident Ryan Heisinger echoed his line of questioning from when the executive order and resolution was presented at a commissioners meeting earlier in this month, for specifics on how the ICE ban from county property would be enforced.

He said that ICE has been spotted in James J. Braddock Park in North Bergen, as well as the courthouse in Jersey City, since the measure was introduced.

Heisinger pondered if ICE was approached by any sheriff’s officers like he was for “loitering” in the hallway during the incident.

“It just leads me to believe that if there were plain-clothes ICE agents just loitering outside of a room, that they would have been addressed by the sheriffs at some point and questioned,” he said.

County Counsel Alberico De Pierro said there was an active investigation and further details would be provided when it concludes. He confirmed that despite the courthouse incident, “no enforcement activity was conducted on county property.”

Board Chair Anthony Romano (D-5) and Commissioner Al Cifelli (D-9) said that under guidelines for county court buildings, law enforcement officers are supposed to identify themselves and likely check their equipment.

De Pierro quipped that he wasn’t sure what exactly occurred and would look into it for the board.

“It’s just a hard job that the sheriff’s officers have. I know that they’ve shown time and time again to do their duty diligently, professionally, and within the confines of the law,” expressed Romano, a retired Hoboken police captain.

“And I’m sure they will follow any directives that are even, whether by the attorney general, their own sheriff, or recommendations by any other law.”

Commissioner Bill O’Dea (D-2) said that county officials were discussing recent executive orders by Guy on a Zoom call on February 6th when the events were unfolding in real time.

“At the end of the day, the situation got resolved. Should those individuals have ever been there? No. But at the end of the day, that individual who was at risk was able to safely get out of the building. The county executive, myself, and others, we worked to make that happen,” he stated.

According to O’Dea, the sheriff’s office policy regarding dealing with federal immigration enforcement will be made public by February 13th, which De Pierro confirmed.

Conceding progress has been slow, he said that guidance would include “whatever policy, regulations, and or protocols they will be following as it relates to the executive order that have been approved a couple of weeks ago,” with De Pierro stating other counties were following their lead on this.

By Friday at 1 p.m., HCV observed that the aforementioned guidance was finally posted to the sheriff’s website.

This includes: the full text of the resolution adopted by commissioners supporting Bill S-3112, prohibiting law enforcement officers from wearing masks or disguises while interacting with the public in New Jersey, the order to the Sheriff’s Office by the New Jersey Attorney General to follow the Immigrant Trust Directive from 2019; a summary document of the directive; and the actual Sheriff’s Office policy as promised.

According to the document, the sheriff’s office will “uphold and enforce all local, state, and federal laws, including but not limited to the State and Federal Constitution,” the policy says.

“Enforcement shall be without regard to immigration status and will abide with the NJ Attorney General Law Enforcement Directive No. 2018-6 V2.0: Directive Strengthening Trust Between Law Enforcement and Immigrant Communities. Our priority as always is keeping our respective community safe within the confines of the law.”

Also according to the policy, ICE detainers and administrative warrants are civil requests and will not be treated as judicial orders or warrants and annual training will be provided to sheriff’s officers.

However, the order allows personnel to collect information required for booking, classification, and state reporting systems, including place of birth and country of citizenship, yet does not authorize civil immigration enforcement.