Mayor makes town a sanctuary
Saturday, May 26, 2007

By PAUL BRUBAKER
HERALD NEWS

PROSPECT PARK – Shortly after Mayor Mohamed Khairullah honored those in the armed forces who sacrificed their lives for their fellow Americans, he signed an executive order Friday night, upholding the rights of those seeking to live in America.

The so-called "sanctuary" order is the first of its kind to be issued in Passaic County and is modeled after an order signed by Trenton Mayor Douglas H. Palmer in December 2004.

The four-page document is largely symbolic, but runs counter to recent ordinances adopted by other municipal governments restricting the rights of unregistered immigrants.

It invokes a U.S. Supreme Court ruling stating that undocumented aliens are protected by the U.S. Constitution and are entitled to the full benefit of municipal services without showing proof of immigration status. The order also prohibits police from asking immigrants for documentation in situations such as traffic stops.

"Basically, what we're saying is, 'This is the job of immigration officials,'" Khairullah said. "We're a municipal government. We're not going to interfere with the immigration issue. We're telling our employees to treat everyone the same."

After perusing a copy of the Trenton order on Friday, Police Chief Frank Franco said the measure would not affect police department operations.

"This is what we are doing anyway," Franco said.

At least seven New Jersey municipalities are considering similar executive orders, said Romi Herrera, of the Peruvian American Political Action Committee, who helped negotiate the Prospect Park agreement.

The sanctuary agreements are an effort to counteract a wave of recent local legislation aimed at restricting the rights of illegal immigrants in cities such as Hazelton, Pa., and Riverside, N.J. In both cases, local ordinances attempting to restrict the hiring or renting of apartments to undocumented immigrants have been ruled unconstitutional -- but are still tied up in legal challenges.

An effort under way in Morristown seeks to deputize the township's local police to enforce immigration law. Those are the types of initiatives that backers of the sanctuary measures say they are trying to counteract.

But Councilman Richard Esquiche said the mayor's executive order signed on Friday was not in response to actions in other communities, but rather to the growing ethnic diversity he sees within the borough.

"It's more of a reminder to the residents of their human rights," Esquiche said.

-- Staff writer Samantha Henry contributed to this story.

Reach Paul Brubaker at 973-569-7155 or brubaker@northjersey.com