GOP state senator proposes database of undocumented immigrants charged with crimes
Immigration advocates warn bill could deepen fear and erode trust in law enforcement
A state senator from Morris County has raised hackles among immigration advocates by proposing that the New Jersey State Police build a database of every undocumented immigrant charged with or convicted of a crime.
Proposed by longtime Republican state Sen. Joe Pennacchio, S-3747 would require the agency to list the names of anyone in custody who lacks legal documentation. It would also require a photo, the crime for which they were incarcerated, and the date and location of their release.
Pennacchio, the bill’s only sponsor, said it’s a response to Democratic Gov. Mikie Sherrill’s recent actions, such as her creation of a portal through which citizens could report contentious encounters with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents.
“It’s more important that these people are exposed,” Pennacchio, who represents the state’s 26th Legislative District, said of the jailed undocumented immigrants. “We’re letting the public know who the bad guys are. We’re telling the public, ‘Here they are, and this is when they’re going to get out.’”
“That way, we’ll be able to have like-minded people inform ICE and tell them, ‘They’re getting out, they served their time, please deport them,’” he continued. “My portal is for people that have done harm, that have hurt people. We don’t want them to hurt people again, and that’s what the state’s sanctuary policy does.”
But immigration activists like Sally Pillay immediately slammed the “horrible” legislation as something that would further destroy immigrants’ trust in law enforcement and drive undocumented families further into the shadows.
“This singles out people based on status, and puts them on a public list during one of the most vulnerable moments of their lives,” said Pillay, the director of the Mami Chelo Foundation, a New York City nonprofit that gives legal support and financial help to immigrants facing deportation.
“That kind of exposure is going to create fear and isolate families,” she added. “And when immigrant families believe any interaction with the system could lead to public exposure, they withdraw. That silence is going to hurt everyone.”
Others, like Priscila Abraham, a supervising attorney with the social justice organization American Friends Service Committee, worried the proposal could harm those who have been charged but not convicted.
“This proposed legislation would be detrimental to our immigrant New Jersey community members as it would essentially ‘dox’ every alleged noncitizen who has been charged with an unsubstantiated crime,” she said.
Pennacchio’s bill, which has been referred to the Senate Law and Public Safety Committee, represents a sharp departure from the fleet of recently signed anti-ICE measures that have flowed from the overwhelmingly Democratic state Legislature.
Among those is a law that bans ICE agents from wearing masks while doing their work; a measure that limits local and state police cooperation with federal immigration authorities; and a third that limits the collection and sharing of immigration data by government agencies or medical facilities.
A public database, however, would directly contradict the law limiting police cooperation and create a roadmap for ICE agents looking to seize undocumented ex-cons as soon as they walk out of jail.
And even if it doesn’t pass, Pennacchio said he’d be happy to at least move the public debate in a different direction.
“I don’t want the conversation ending with the governor’s signature on those three ICE bills,” Pennacchio said.
“The discussion is healthy!” he continued. “What side do you want to stand on? Do you want to stand on the side of illegal immigrants, especially those who have harmed us? Or do you want to stand on the side of innocent human lives and innocent human beings who are being hurt, or worse?”
Despite Pennacchio’s words, his bill shocked other immigration advocates.
“Did he not pay attention in history class?” Kathy O’Leary of Pax Christi, an international Catholic peace organization, told The Jersey Vindicator. “Maybe he should read Holocaust [literature] to understand why it’s bad to have a registry of people. Would he like them to be tattooed? Would he like them to wear armbands?”
Both O’Leary and Abraham noted that such a database is unnecessary anyway, local and state authorities already know who’s convicted and who’s incarcerated, and the public can look that information up at any time.
“It’s a waste of our public resources,” O’Leary said. “Nobody wants this stuff, and if [the senator] thinks he’s going to get political points from this, he’s probably not reading the room.”
“We should care about creating a more authoritarian state that’s targeting people who don’t look like Joe Pennacchio,” she added. “And Joe Pennacchio should care about that too.”
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Steve Janoski is a multi-award-winning journalist whose work has appeared in the New York Post, USA Today, the Associated Press, The Bergen Record and the Asbury Park Press. His reporting has exposed corruption, government malfeasance and police misconduct