Linked to this post is the text of a letter I sent to the West Orange Town Council on February 12th. Aside from the letter’s face-value message, it illustrates two things: (1) how out of touch the Council is on relevant developments in the state legislature; (2) how ill-conceived is its belief that immigration enforcement is outside of the scope of municipal politics or Council jurisdiction. 

Even as West Orange residents have been abducted by ICE off the streets of West Orange and other nearby localities,* much of its Council seems hypnotized by Trumpian propaganda: it can’t act to protect residents, it tells us, because it owes a duty of unquestioning allegiance to the federal government; apparently, if the feds want something, the Township’s only duty is to close its eyes, gag its attorney, and hand over what’s demanded.

One more step, and it’s “defiant trespass”: the Sheridan Ave shortcut to Stagg Field

But this is false. The Township can, in emulation of the state, pass an ordinance prohibiting the presence of federal immigration enforcement officers on any and all municipal properties when they lack a judicial warrant. That would include all of the facilities at Municipal Plaza, along with all four municipal fire stations, the rescue squad, the public library, the public parks, the public schools, the Department of Public Works, the Oscar Schindler Performing Arts Center (and environs), and any and all township-owned public properties beyond these, like the “School Path” between Rock Spring Ave and Masson Pl (Block 159.04/Lot 1.04), and the walking paths along the old Morris Canal in the vicinity of Cornell St (Block 168.05/Lots 3.01 and 3.02). There may be other relevant properties from which to bar ICE; the preceding list isn’t meant to be exhaustive. 

The “School Path” to St Cloud School

As I know from long personal experience, the West Orange Police Department takes great pride in kicking people out of the parks at night (per West Orange Municipal Code, §2-17.6). It should take the same pride in keeping ICE out of the parks all day. The Township makes a big deal about how anyone setting foot on the grounds of a public school without invitation is committing defiant trespass (under NJSA 2C:18-3).** It can make the same big deal when it comes to ICE. If I can’t cut across the St Cloud School blacktop to get from Sheridan Ave to Stagg Field, neither should they. If I have to walk around the block to get to Stagg Field, so should they. But of course, once we get to Stagg Field, I should be the one allowed to enter without a judicial warrant, not them. 

No Trespassing, St Cloud School

If all of these laws are merely on the books pro forma, the Council should feel free to repeal them. But if it’s gone to the trouble of retaining them, posting them, and making them apply to us, it can make sure that they apply to federal immigration enforcement as well. If West Orange can impose a curfew on juveniles (Municipal Code §4-30), prohibit “improper dress on [the] streets” (“It shall be unlawful for any person to appear on any public street within the Township clothed in a bathrobe, bathing suit or other bathing attire,” §4-17.1), prohibit loitering (“loafing or walking about aimlessly and without purpose,” §4-12), prohibit the use of pagers on school property (§4-5.3), and maintain “Drug-Free School Zones” (§4-6), it can use its ingenuity to restrict ICE at least as much as it restricts us.  

The Rules at Stagg Field; doesn’t ICE violate 8, 11, and 12 by default?

Where there’s a will to resist tyranny, there’s a way. Where people affect helplessness in the face of tyranny, the most likely explanation is that they sympathize with it. Fifty years’ experience with West Orange convinces me that that is the explanation: the legacy of “Tory Corner” dies hard. But an explanation is not an excuse, and at some point, the excuses have to end. Now would be a good time to start. It’s time to kick ICE out of West Orange however we can. 

*At the Council’s meeting on February 10, Councilwoman Tammy Williams mentioned a West Orange resident detained by ICE in Newark, but I don’t have any further information on this case.

**NJSA 2C:18-3 is state law, but it’s enforced by the municipality, and it’s the municipality that makes a “big deal” about posting it so conspicuously on school grounds.