BRICK – Three council seats are up for grabs in this year’s municipal election in November, and Republican council candidates Gregory J. Cohen, Lisa Reina and mayoral hopeful Madeline Iannarone have been attending council meetings to voice their concerns during public comment.
(The third Republican council candidate is council incumbent Perry Albanese, who is seeking re-election).
During a council meeting last month, Gregory J. Cohen said he is “constantly told that we’re not a sanctuary town…then how come we have such a high increase of non English-speaking students in our schools?” he asked. “Can the council clarify their stance and what that means?”
Mayor Lisa Crate said Cohen was making an assumption because there is no way of knowing if the students are documented or undocumented.
Cohen said “it is a true fact that this town has become a sanctuary town, whether you want to admit it or not, that’s what has happened. Brick Township is not supposed to be a sanctuary town. We should be complying with ICE (Immigration and Customs Enforcement), we should be complying with everyone in the federal laws.”
The mayor said Brick has had no contact with ICE, and Police Chief David Forrester has not had any communication from ICE.
Cohen said he heard that ICE has been to Brick. He asked if the township would assist ICE in performing their duties.
“I have not heard of any issues with ICE having a problem in Brick,” Township Attorney Kevin Starkey said. “There will not be a problem in Brick because our police department will comply with federal law, as will the mayor and the council regarding all immigration policies.”
Furthermore, when ICE does come to a town in New Jersey, they do not ask the local police for assistance, the township attorney added.
“In fact, they usually say ‘Please, we’ll let you know we’re here – please stay out of the way so we can do our job,’” Starkey said.
Mayor Lisa Crate and Township Attorney Kevin Starkey addressed rumors of Brick being a sanctuary city. (Screenshot by Judy Smestad-Nunn)
Cohen asked what happens when a township police officer picks up an undocumented person who has an outstanding arrest warrant. “Are we turning them over?” he asked.
Starkey reiterated that the police would comply with federal law.
“That was stated early on, that if somebody is arrested, and they have a warrant, that goes to the county just like it would with anybody else that is arrested with a warrant,” said Mayor Crate.
During the council meeting on May 13, Mayor Crate said that since that previous council meeting, she reached out to the county prosecutor and the state attorney general to find out for sure if ICE has been to Brick since the administration was not notified.
“Both entities definitively answered no, that ICE has not been in Brick Township and that we would likely be made aware of in some form if they were to make their way here,” she said. “I know there were some concerns and people had reached out afterwards asking if that was the case and that we had not been notified.”
Crate is running for re-election, and will be joined by Democratic council candidate, incumbent Heather deJong, and newcomers Rocco Lepore and Dan Ward.
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