Second Statement to the Princeton Council on the ITA Resolution

This is my second statement to the Princeton Municipal Council on the issue of the ITA Resolution (August 11). For my first one (July 28), go here. For recent news coverage of the adoption of the resolution, go here and here. I’m in the middle of writing up a more comprehensive account of the press coverage of the campaign for the Princeton ITA resolution, and will post it when I can. 

Hi, my name is Irfan Khawaja. I live in Princeton.

I wanted to thank you for the wording of this resolution. I’ve read them all, and the resolution you’ve adopted is probably the best of the bunch.  

Apropos of some things that were said [in the last Council meeting] about Princeton’s Human Services, I’m not of the view–have never been of the view–that this is a do-nothing Council or a do-nothing town with respect to the needs of immigrants. I’ve looked into the matter myself, and would say that Princeton’s human services with respect to migrants are probably the best in the state for towns of its size.

Asma Elhuni, a Rapid Responder with Resistencia

That said, I want to put a question on the record. I don’t want to sound a bum note, but I do think that the question needs to be asked, and has not really been adequately asked or answered. It’s unclear to me what the Council or what the Borough thinks should happen when ICE makes a raid in this town. It’s unclear for instance whether there’s anyone in the Borough to call in real time when such a raid takes place, if they will respond in real time, and if they respond, what they will do.  

By contrast, in the case of Resistencia en Acción, these questions have very clear answers. There’s a phone line you can call. There’s a Rapid Response team. They will come as soon as they can, and you know that they will come as soon as they can. They have a very clear protocol, and they take action. There is a desperate need for such a service, and I put the question to the Council whether it either has something comparable, or it has some intention of integrating its services with Resistencia’s Rapid Response Team, or not. I leave that as an open issue without making an affirmative statement either way, except to say that I do think the question urgently needs an answer.   

Just to underscore the real urgency here: I don’t think it needs to be belabored that ICE operates by its own rules. The question has arisen about our interference in federal operations, but it seems to me that the more urgent issue is their interference in our operations. That’s the protection or shield that’s needed, and if it’s not to be supplied in some formalized way by the Council, it will have to be supplied in an informal way by us. So I raise the question because of the urgency of the issue. This is a disaster in the making. It could lead to a catastrophic result. To avert that, we need some kind of plan or set of procedures to know what to do when it [the next raid] happens, as it will. Thank you.   

For a video of the full Council meeting, go here. My comment begins at about 39:30.