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12 illegal immigrants apprehended
(by Karen F. Mrnarevic - March 19, 2008)
A dozen illegal immigrants from were taken into custody last Wednesday after being discovered during a routine traffic stop in Hillsdale.
Hillsdale Police Officer William Diedtrich pulled over a Ford Excursion in the town’s business district at 1:30 a.m. on March 12, after noticing that the vehicle had a malfunctioning headlight and no visible license plate. During the course of the traffic stop, he and several other backup officers discovered that the car contained 12 men, women and children, two of whom where hidden in the rear cargo area.
Hillsdale Police Chief Chip Stalter said in a phone interview that this was not a situation in which the officer was actively looking to apprehend illegal immigrants, but that given the situation, he could not just let them go. “You have a vehicle that’s over capacity… a 2-year-old child not in a car seat… it’s not something you can overlook, for the safety of the occupants.”
According to a press release issued by the Hillsdale Police Department, the officers found that the occupants were carrying “suspicious identification” and large amounts of cash. When interviewed by the officers, they gave inconsistent statements, and ultimately, the occupants admitted that they were illegal aliens who had entered the from .
The Mexican nationals, five of whom were men, two women and five children, were taken into protective custody and transported to the Hillsdale Police Headquarters for further investigation. Agents from United States Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) were called to assist the Hillsdale Detective Bureau. Further investigation eventually revealed that the group was transported to
Bergen
County from
Phoenix, Ariz. after illegally entering the country. The group was to be dropped off in the
Bergen
County area when they were intercepted by Diedtrich.
The adults were remanded to the Bergen County Jail by ICE for immigration law violations, while the children were committed to the custody and care of the NJ Division of Youth and Family Services (DYFS).
According to Stalter, the incident left the Hillsdale Police in a sad, rather than triumphant, mood. “We all felt bad for them [the occupants of the vehicle]… The are coming here to work, and they are out a lot of money.” However, he noted the seriousness of the situation, since it could be indicative of a larger smuggling operation in which more people are illegally transported and exploited.
He also made it clear that it is neither the intention, nor the responsibility of the Hillsdale Police to enforce immigration laws. People living in the area who may be here illegally, he said, should never be reluctant to report crimes for fear of being turned in to immigration authorities. “We want them to come to us. We don’t want them to be afraid of us. We will not call immigration if they are a victim of a crime.”
On March 18, Stalter reported that the children found in the vehicle were given physical examinations while in the custody of DYFS and were judged to be healthy. The woman and baby who were in the party have been transported to
Trenton , to be reunited with the child’s father. Furthermore, through cooperation with DYFS authorities in the state of
Maryland , the NJ DYFS was able to track down relatives of the other four children. The children, two of whom are brother and sister, have been transported to
Maryland , where they will be turned over to their families.
Karen F. Mrnarevic's e-mail address is Mrnarevic@northjersey.com.
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