Study Says a Rule Is Misused on Latinos

[AlphaCentauri]

Many police officers in New Jersey are misusing a 2007 directive by the state’s attorney general by questioning the immigration status of Latino drivers, passengers, pedestrians and even crime victims, reporting them to federal immigration authorities and jailing some for days without criminal charges, according to a Seton Hall Law School study.

“The data suggests a disturbing trend towards racial profiling by the New Jersey police,” said Bassina Farbenblum, a lawyer with the law school’s Center for Social Justice, which gathered details of 68 cases over the past nine months in which people were questioned about their immigration status for no apparent reason, or after minor infractions, like rolling through a stop sign. None involved drunken driving or the use of false documents.

David Wald, a spokesman for the attorney general, Anne Milgram, said on Tuesday that she would look into the cases cited, after asking the center — which did not provide names in its report — to identify the individuals involved. “We welcome the center’s input, but we question their conclusions,” Mr. Wald said. “We don’t believe that New Jersey police are arresting individuals just to enforce federal immigration laws.”

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In one case it cited, police officers questioned a man at the Camden train station after asking to see his ticket. Unable to show one, he was arrested and held for seven days before being turned over to Immigration and Customs Enforcement. (The Camden police did not return calls for comment.)

Elsewhere, another man was transferred to immigration agents after being held for four months, cited only for driving without a license. And a woman who showed her Argentine license at a “car checkpoint” was detained, then turned over to federal immigration agents even though a judge told her there were no charges against her.

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/04/15/nyregion/15immigration.html?ref=nyregion