Zulima V. Farber Nominated For NJ Attorney General

On January 11, 2006, Governor-elect Jon Corzine nominated Zulima V. Farber to become New Jersey Attorney General. Congratulations, Ms. Farber!

An important issue that Ms. Farber can address is whether the New Jersey Attorney General will force local police to enforce something that falls outside the criminal laws -- civil immigration violations. There are compelling arguments that the NJ Attorney General may not have such a power or that even if that power exists, it should not be used for civil immigration violations because the effect of forcing local police to turn everyone in to immigration officials would be to scare witnesses and victims of crimes away from reporting them to law enforcement.

It is this concern that has prompted Princeton Borough to try to limit local police involvement in civil immigration violations (while still being committed to enforcing all criminal laws related to alien smuggling and immigration).

In fact, one long-time New Jersey resident has even been turned over by local police to immigration officials for deportation just because they contacted him as the victim of a crime. Our country needs everyone's help, including immigrants who are crime victims, to try to fight crime. New Jersey's next attorney general has an opportunity to contribute to crime-fighting and protecting all New Jerseyans.