The identity of a person who was handcuffed by four Immigration & Customs Enforcement, or ICE, agents on Park Place in South Orange on Friday, June 6, has yet to be revealed publicly.
“Four men with ICE vests, masked, and armed, picked up and handcuffed a single man on Park Place near Marshall School around 8:45AM today,” read an anonymous post on a local Facebook group on June 6. “Kids were still walking to school. My spouse witnessed it, and was so stunned and shaken, they didn’t take a photo. But I hope someone did.”
South Orange officials confirmed that ICE did make an “arrest” on June 6 on Park Place but, as of Monday, June 9, had no further information to share.
In response to questions about the identity of the person detained, what charges were made against that person, if that person was mirandized, and where they are currently located, South Orange Acting Police Chief Stephen Dolinac replied on June 9, “We have no further information at this time.”
However, Dolinac did reply to one question regarding whether or not ICE had contacted SOPD prior to the operation. “No, ICE did not inform SOPD that they were coming to town for this operation.”
According to local immigration attorney Kate Reilly, ICE should have sent a “deconfliction notice” to local law enforcement officials.
“Yes, deconfliction is the normal protocol,” wrote Reilly in response to an email request from Village Green. Reilly shared a 2019 internal ICE memo referencing a 2016 policy directive “that to my knowledge is still in effect (although there’s a lot of anecdotal evidence to the contrary).”
The memo reads in part, “Deconfliction is an essential practice that enables U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) law enforcement officers (LEOs) to identify potential operational or investigative conflicts with other law enforcement agencies while leveraging reciprocal information sharing to perform their respective missions more effectively. Furthermore, deconfliction promotes officer safety and contributes to preventing ‘blue-on-blue’ incidents.”
South Orange’s 2017 Sanctuary City resolution (see below) does not prohibit or refuse deconfliction notices and states, “Nothing in this resolution shall be construed or implemented to conflict with any obligation imposed by Federal or State statutes and regulations or directives of the New Jersey Attorney General and the Essex County Prosecutor.”
Village Green emailed ICE Media on June 9 and received an acknowledgement of the email on June 10, but so far ICE Media has sent no response to questions about the person detained or the operation. Village Green emailed the Newark field office for ICE on June 10 and has received an acknowledgement of receipt but no further responses as of publication. Village Green also left a detailed voicemail for the ICE Newark field office. This story will be updated when ICE responds.
Reilly told Village Green that ICE may not provide information: “ICE on a good day isn’t eager to share info about people they’ve detained. Even with info, they can refuse to share information with an attorney who hasn’t been retained by the person (or by their family on their behalf).”
Village Green reached out to the Office of NJ Attorney General Matt Platkin with questions about the ICE operation and protocols for such operations and received the following response from a spokesperson through email: “We don’t have information about ICE’s possible activity in South Orange – you would have to ask that agency.”
Anyone with information about the person detained can contact Village Green at villagegreennj@gmail.com.
South Orange officials have asked that anyone witnessing ICE activity in South Orange call South Orange Village at 973-378-7715.
