NEW BRUNSWICK -- Following a massive protest on the Rutgers University campus over President Trump's recent executive orders on immigration, around 100 people gathered on Tuesday outside city hall to demand New Brunswick declare itself a "sanctuary city."
Many were outraged by comments from the mayor's office in a recent report by the Daily Targum in which the city declare it was not a so-called "sanctuary city" -- a broad term describing municipalities that have vowed to not fully comply with federal immigration law enforcement investigations.
New Brunswick has said its police department would comply with local, state and federal immigration investigations, according to a statement from the city.
Cahill also pushed back in the statement and said people should "only look to our practices and actions to learn their concerns might be misplaced as few NJ municipalities have been as welcoming to immigrants as New Brunswick."
He added that the term "sanctuary city," has become "a simple, short-handed way of referring to a municipality" whose policies seek to protect unauthorized immigrants, which he said his administration has always done.
New Brunswick 'Rally to protect immigrant communities'
But Craig Garcia, of New Jersey Working Families Alliance, believes the mayor has made his views clear.
"They said they would comply with all local, state and federal immigration policies," Garcia said. "That statement is not reflective of the state our country is in. Folks are here to say we want him to take clear, meaningful action."
Before the protest, Garcia and other local leaders walked into city hall to drop off a petition at the front office stating several policy demands.
Such policies would include issuing municipal identification cards for its immigrant residents, instructing local law enforcement not to comply with federal immigration investigations, and keep a record of the number of investigations by the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) in the city, to name a few.
Rev. Seth Kaper-Dale, of the Reformed Church of Highland Park and New Jersey's Green Party gubernatorial candidate, spoke before the crowd on the steps in front of city hall and made his own demands to Cahill and the city.
"We want you to set up a neighborhood watch so that when people are dropping off their 5-year-olds at kindergarten, we don't have ... ICE waiting to snatch their dad away," said Kaper-Dale, who has long advocated for protecting refugees and immigrants.
"That's what a mayor should do!" he yelled into the megaphone.
The crowd chanted cries like, "Sanctuary now!" while others in the crowd yelled, "Where's Mayor Cahill?"
In seeking comment from Cahill, a city spokeswoman referred NJ Advance Media to the mayor's statement which said the city would seek to establish several policies to protect its immigrant community.
The mayor said the city is seeking to establish:
- Bilingual crime watch and community-police meetings
- A fair and efficient process for evaluating U-Visa certification requests
- Implementation of a municipal ID program
According to the statement, the city should also work to "prevent those that would tear apart what makes New Brunswick the great and unique place that it is, its social fabric, whether by harsh immigration enforcement policies or misinformation that erodes trust among our community stakeholders."
Spencer Kent may be reached at skent@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @SpencerMKent. Find the Find NJ.com on Facebook.
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