Police, Immigration Status, and Jose Carranza

A day ago, attorney general of New Jersey, Anne Milgram, told police that when they arrest someone, they must ask them what their status is - as far as being in the United States legally. But some police and others aren't happy doing that.

Local Jersey officials and advocates of immigrants started thinking today about how this questioning of peoples arrested would all play out. They wanted to know if the police would be doing something wrong.

Englewood is a Jersey hot spot. Police here estimate there are over 26,000 illegal aliens - and the authorities here have always posed the immigration question - so to them - this new rule doesn't change things. In the city of Freehold, a lawsuit put all this on hold. A new chief of police there is still trying to make heads or tails of what Ms. Milgram meant.

Here's how all this happened.

An illegal alien named Carranza, 28 years old from Peru, was arrested for committing serious felonies. Somehow, $150,000 was put up by a bail bondsman. Carranza was released from the Essex County jail back in May of this year. Before this, Carranza put up $2,000 seven months earlier, being charged this time with assault including weapons - he was in a bar fight. This sprung him from Essex County jail.

Believe it or not, authorities didn't know he was an illegal alien. Carranza worked, illegally, and is now charged with three murders - he killed three people on August 4th. His bail - yes, there's a bail - is set at $1 million.

So attorney general Milgram said let's ask when we arrest anyone if they can prove they are in the United States legally. But already some people have wondered it this would have stopped the senseless murders in New Jersey by an illegal immigrant. They claim that other illegals wouldn't report crimes. Anne Milgram says that victims, people asking assistance of the police, or witnesses, would not be checked for immigration status.

And finally, Scott Weber of the Immigration and Customs Enforcement Office of Detention and Removal in Newark says that ICE isn't really set up to handle these notifications on a large scale. Looks like the attorney general's office will be planning more ways to work this rule out.