15 people detained by ICE on Harrison Street, Princeton officials say

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Immigration Customs and Enforcement (ICE) officers detained 15 people on their way to work in Princeton around 6:45 a.m. Thursday morning in one of the first reported immigration enforcement actions in the municipality since the beginning of the Trump administration.

According to Princeton Mayor Mark Freda, immigration officials had initially only been in pursuit of a single person. Ana Paola Pazmiño, executive director of local immigration advocacy group Resistencia en Acción NJ, said that authorities had detained everyone inside a van on their way to doing landscaping work.

“We got notice this morning, around 11 a.m., that a van that was going into landscaping work was stopped and was detained, and everybody inside was detained,” Pazmiño explained in an interview with The Daily Princetonian. “Up to now, we know of four families who are coming in for intakes and are coming in to give us more information about their loved ones.”

The arrests follow an incident yesterday morning, when eight ICE agents approached three people near the intersection of John Street and Leigh Avenue. According to a press release from Resistencia en Acción NJ, two of the individuals escaped, while the third was detained.

Pazmiño shared that many of the people held working permits or had family members who are U.S. citizens.

“We know that one or two of them were holders of working permits or residents. We’re not sure how that’s panning out,” she said. “We have some people who are married to U.S. citizens, who have U.S. citizen children. So we’re looking into that a little bit more as well.”

Freda said that the municipality had no involvement, but that it has had open dialogue with ICE following the incident.

“There’s not much we know at the moment, but we try to keep a line of communication with ICE open,” Freda told the ‘Prince.’ “The fact that we were able to get in touch with them and answer some questions was helpful.”

Like many towns and cities in New Jersey, Princeton does not assist in federal immigration enforcement.

“The Princeton Police Department does not take part in federal immigration enforcement activities and were not involved in this incident in any way,” Captain Matthew Solovay confirmed in a statement to the ‘Prince.’

According to Freda, the municipality is awaiting more specific details. ICE did not respond to multiple requests for comment about the arrests.

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Pazmiño and Resistencia are looking to provide support to these individuals and their families.

“We are looking into legal representation for them. We are going to establish a fundraiser, because we’re thinking it could be up to 15 families who will be looking for their loved ones — specifically brothers, cousins, of the people detained,” Pazmiño said.

A pre-planned fundraiser to be held in Trenton will “support immigrant families in the process of detention and deportation” and help families cover some costs, said Paulo Almiron, Resistencia’s media coordinator. However, the incident is also adding urgency to Resistencia’s goal of lobbying the municipality to pass a resolution in support of the Immigration Trust Act (ITA), a proposed state law that would codify limits on how local law enforcement can interact with immigration officials.

“We’re also asking that our ITA resolution for Princeton be passed and be proven that it’s needed in Princeton, because even though we’re a welcoming state, or we’re saying that nothing is happening here, we’re not exempt from all of these raids,” Pazmiño said. “Something is happening here, and we need to help the people who live in Princeton and who work in Princeton.”

Talks about this resolution have mounted over the past few months. At the town hall meeting on July 14, over 50 members of the community urged the council to pass the resolution. If it is passed, Princeton will become the 14th municipality to adopt the resolution.

The arrests this week follow an ICE enforcement action from last summer where one person was detained.

“Our community is on red alert. Each worker kidnapped is a family devastated, both emotionally and financially,” Resistencia’s press release from Thursday read. “Our Rapid Response team is redoubling its efforts to keep monitoring ICE activity in the area. We urge our Mercer County communities to call us at (640) 466-2386 to report ICE activity.”

Luke Grippo is an assistant News editor for the ‘Prince.’ He is from South Jersey and usually covers University politics, on a national, regional, and local scale.

Please send any corrections to corrections[at]dailyprincetonian.com.