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The Trenton City Council approved an ordinance Tuesday night that prevents the city’s police department from assisting federal immigration officers during civil enforcement. The measure, which passed 4-2, did not include a provision sought by immigration advocates that would’ve preempted the department from honoring immigration detainers.
Ana Paola Pazmiño, executive director of Resistencia en Accion NJ, was grateful for the dialogue with the council and the ordinance’s passage.
“It really shows that there’s power when you bring forth people and community,” she said. “When you bring forth needs that we’re seeing because laws can be written, but the idea is that we are experiencing different things on the ground and so we need to meet halfway.”
Mayor Reed Gusciora said he would review the bill before deciding whether to sign it.
Council members Teska Frisby and Crystal Feliciano voted against the ordinance. Both still took exception to some comments from the public at the last meeting.
“I don’t appreciate when my council, colleagues, council president and vice president ran, worked on this ordinance when they were first approached with it,” Feliciano said.
Frisby said no one is allowed to come in to disrespect the council. She added that they were elected to serve the city of Trenton and that “outsiders should [not] be coming in and to write policy to rubber-stamp and put into act.”
“I believe that that is opening up a Pandora’s box,” she said. “If we do it for one organization, what is to stop another organization and the one after that to come in and do the exact same thing.”
City Council President Jenna L. Figueroa Kettenburg read into the record an email that she sent to advocates expressing appreciation for the ideas they brought, asking that they recognize that any ideas that were not included in the ordinance were based on the council’s judgment on “what is appropriate, enforceable and sustainable for the city.”
“After extensive discussion and review, we believe the ordinance represents a meaningful step forward and appropriately balances the city’s responsibilities, legal obligations and policy objectives,” she read from her email.
