Nick Muscavage

@nmuscavage

D.I.R.E. plans to pair sanctuary churches with individuals who at risk of deportation.

It will also operate an alert system that informs residents about the presence of ICE officers.

D.I.R.E. will also provide advocates to immigrants who will accompany them for support.

HIGHLAND PARK - Days after the President Donald Trump directed the Department of Homeland Security to deport illegal immigrants, a church in this Middlesex County borough started its own initiative to combat the immigration crackdown.

The Reformed Church of Highland Park on Thursday hosted a discussion on its newly formed Deportation and Immigration Response Team, or D.I.R.E. The meeting included about 50 community members, many of whom seemed interested in volunteering for the effort.

Once functioning, D.I.R.E. plans to pair sanctuary churches with individuals who may be at risk of deportation. It will also operate an alert system that informs residents about the presence of Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers. In addition, D.I.R.E. will also provide advocates to immigrants who will accompany them for support to immigration proceedings and come to the door of an immigrant's home when ICE officers are present to remind the immigrants that they do not have to open the door if the officers do not have a warrant.

"I feel so strongly about this because every person is a child of God and every person should be treated with dignity and respect," said the Rev. Seth Kaper-Dale, pastor of the Reformed Church. "When people come here, they ought to be treated with dignity and respect and not be sent away out of a presidency that's shaped by hate."

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Kaper-Dale, who is running for governor this year on the Green Party ticket, said that Trump's actions against immigrants are formed out of hate.

"This is totally driven by hate," he said of Trump's directives and executive orders. "We have a cruel president."

The same day as the meeting in Highland Park, Trump, while at the White House, described his plan to deport undocumented immigrants as a "military operation" and said that because of it, his administration and immigration officials are "getting really bad dudes out of this country, and at a rate nobody's ever seen before."

At an event in Mexico City, Homeland Security Secretary John Kelly said there will be "no mass deportations" or use of the U.S. military in immigration enforcement.

"Everything that we do will be done in a legal way and with respect for human rights and the U.S. justice system," Kelly said. “The focus of deportations will be people with criminal records, and everything will be done always in close cooperation with the Mexican government.”

The meeting in Highland Park also drew some immigration attorneys who offered advice from a legal perspective.

They reminded the audience to ask and see a warrant if an ICE officer claims to have one and, furthermore, to make sure that it is signed by a judge and that it is not a civil warrant, which would not have as much authority as a federal warrant.

Melinda Basaran, an immigration attorney based out of Paterson who has many clients in Middlesex County, said she is concerned about the "dignity of the people" who are targeted by orders from the Trump administration.

"I'm really concerned that if they're detained, their dignity — their due process rights, their rights to be treated fairly and humanely — is respected," she said. "I'm here for some legal advice, I'm here to give information."

She also said that just because someone may be an undocumented immigrant and in the U.S. illegally, they still have the rights provided to them under the Constitution because they are in the country.

"Everyone's case can be unique," she said. "But no matter what, the Constitution is the supreme law of our land and they (immigrants) have these rights."

At least one member in the audience has already been acting as an advocate for immigrants when it comes to immigration procedures.

John Wenz said he helped several immigrants earlier Thursday morning.

"Basically, we're not allowed to really go upstairs and be in the conference room with people," he said. "We're able to provide them emotional, social and personal support; that there is somebody from America, an American citizen, that cares about them and cares what's happening to them."

He said that the support helps calm immigrants who may be anxious and nervous before immigration proceedings because they don't know what is in store for them.

"I was able to tell them that my grandparents were immigrants," he said.

He said that as a volunteer, "you get to do something positive that doesn't require any advanced non-violence techniques; you get to be a human being to help another family, and it's very rewarding."

He said that Trump's directives were vague about what can be considered a crime on non-compliance by immigrants, such as unpaid parking tickets and changes in phone numbers or names that aren't reported to immigration officials.

This can cause fear on the part of immigrants because it could be seen as resistance or non-compliance, he said, and possibly play a role in their deportation.

"Some of them have been here 15, 20 years," he said. "It's not that they're somebody who just came here. They have children here, teenagers born here, young people born here, and they are hard-working people."

For more information on the D.I.R.E. program, you can visit www.direteam.org.

Protesters arrested

A small group of demonstrators was arrested Thursday while protesting outside an immigration detention center in Union County.

Five activists blocking a street with a sign reading “No More Deportations” and wearing butterfly wings were arrested outside the Elizabeth Detention Center.

More than 100 protesters lined the street outside the detention center. They chanted against recent raids by federal immigration authorities and against President Trump’s proposed wall on the Mexican border.

Police didn’t immediately have information available on what charges the arrested protesters could face. They were taken away with their hands in zip ties, and they were placed into the back of a police van.

Contributing: Associated Press

Staff Writer Nick Muscavage: 908-243-6615; ngmuscavage@gannettnj.com