Other people’s thoughts, they ain’t your hand-me-downs
Would it be so bad to simply turn around?

–The Spin Doctors, “Little Miss Can’t Be Wrong”

Here’s the latest installment in my ongoing struggle to restore facticity to political discourse in Princeton. My last go-round with Princeton’s Town Topics concerned its misdescription, graciously conceded by the editor, of the municipality’s acquisition of Westminster Choir College. This one concerns the paper’s insistence on repeating the municipality’s PR to the effect that “the Princeton Police Department does not participate in federal immigration enforcement.” Oh, come on. Yes, it does. Repeating this “does not participate” mantra doesn’t make it true, but that doesn’t stop either the municipality or its amen-corner at Town Topics from repeating it ad nauseam.

Town Topics decided not to print this letter, but here it is anyway, dated March 8, 2026. I’ve filched the title of the post from a famous song by Princeton’s very own Spin Doctors. Living in this ridiculous town, you can see how the band got its name.

To the Editor:

A generally informative article in Town Topics on immigration issues nonetheless errs on two significant points (“Mercer County Weighs Immigrant Protections As State, Muncipalities Eye More Guardrails,” March 4).

The author writes that “Princeton and Hopewell were the two Mercer County municipalities that passed resolutions in favor of the Immigrant Trust Act…” Resolutions in favor of the Act were also passed by Trenton and Lawrence Township.

The author later writes: “In January, two adult males in Princeton were detained by ICE, according to the Princeton Police Department, which by policy does not participate in federal immigration enforcement.”

The last clause of this sentence is a very large overstatement. Policy within the Princeton Police Department is set by the Attorney General’s Immigrant Trust Directive of 2018, and by Princeton Police Department General Order 4:13. Though officers are instructed as a default not to participate in federal civil immigration enforcement, this default position is qualified by several non-trivial exceptions that are enumerated at several pages’ length within the policy (lasted as subsections III.C and III.D). In all of these exception cases, where federal immigration enforcement intersects unavoidably with local law enforcement, participation in federal immigration enforcement is legally mandatory.

It’s unfortunate that Princeton’s municipal leadership has so often made the unqualified claim that Princeton Police “does not participate in federal immigration enforcement.” This claim not only flouts the text of the relevant policies, but feeds the dangerous misperception that the Immigrant Trust Directive gives sanctuary to criminals. In fact, all law enforcement agencies are, in specified cases, obliged by law to participate in federal immigration enforcement. Journalists should write, and our municipal leaders should speak, accordingly.

Irfan Khawaja