I have a piece today at NJ Spotlight on the erosion of the state’s Work First stipend and the broader issues with the safety net under a Trump administration.
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| Aracely Cantero (right) and a member of Make the Road NJ protest on behalf of Humberto Cantero, who is in ICE detention in Essex County. |
I have a piece up today at NJ Spotlight on the patchwork that is New Jersey immigration policy.
There are 21 counties, 565 municipalities, and 20 county jails that have their own policies for dealing with ICE. All are subject to a state attorney general directive from 2007 that sets limits on what local law enforcement can ask of people they arrest, but not on how they should respond to requests from federal immigration officials.
This leaves too much to local discretion, say advocates. They are calling for state action to create a more uniform approach to dealing with ICE. Immigration advocates generally support legislation introduced by state Sen. Nia Gill (D-Essex) that would limit cooperation with ICE by local, county, and state officials to judicially sanctioned detainer requests. ICE currently issues voluntary orders, which are valid but lack the force of a judicial order. Advocates say the bill could go much farther by limiting interaction with ICE.
Six counties work with ICE in some way — Hudson has both an enforcement arrangement and a contract to house ICE detainees, while Monmouth, Salem and Cape May have enforcement arrangements and Essex and Bergen have what are sometimes called “bed contracts.” Two counties have policies in place that limit their interaction with ICE — Union and Middlesex — and about two dozen towns have declared themselves as sanctuary or welcoming cities.
So, while immigration is a federal matter, federal policy has an impact locally, especially when federal policy is to enlist local law enforcement in the effort.
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The Mets are a dreadful seven games under .500 and 12 games back in the wild-card race. Their season is all but over — they need too many teams to collapse and need to do too much work themselves to be a viable pennant hopeful at this point.
The state of affairs is especially disheartening given the expectations and recent success, but a confluence of age and injury have doomed this season.
This places an important question on the table: Should the Mets be sellers as the trade season opens this month? The answer, sadly, appears to be yes — unless they can cut the wild-card deficit in half by the all-star break. Given the schedule —four games with the Dodgers and three with the Nationals —hope is fleeting.
Here are 10 things to consider that could remake the team for 3018, when the pitching should be healthy.
1 & 2. Trade Jay Bruce and/or Lucas Duda. Bruce has had a nice year anchoring the line-up, but he is a corner outfielder and the Mets have two corners in place — Michael Conforto and Yoenes Cespedes. Bruce has rebuilt his trade value, so the Mets should see what they can get for him.
The same goes for Duda, who occupies a position played by the Mets’ no. 2 position prospect, Dominic Smith. Smith is expected to be ready soon, which means a decision on Duda will have to be made. He is expected to want a longer-term deal, which is not something the Mets should consider. They should get something while they can.
Mets fans will read this and say — but wait. They are presences in the middle of the line-up. The reality is that, while both are solid, they are not worth what it might take to keep them. They are, using both the eye test and the array of statistical and analytical tools, above but near average for their positions. Basically, they are replaceable.
3. Bring up Ahmed Rosario. The Mets’ infield play has been among the worst in the league — and the infielders have been about as bad a defensive group as I’ve seen. The left side of the infield has been atrocious — Jose Reyes has nothing left at short, is not a third-baseman and can’t hit. Asdrubel Cabrera has the legs of an 80-year-old man and the range to match. The Mets have no reason to commit to this horror show any longer. Let Wilmer Flores play out the string at third — at least he hits — and bring up Rosario. The kids flashes leather like no one in a Mets uniform since Rey Ordonez, and he’s been raking big time in AAA. Bring him up, hit him lead off and let’s see what he can do.
4. Cut ties with Reyes. See above.
5. Consign Curtis Granderson to the bench. He is looking his age, and there are likely no takers among contenders. He remains a good character guy and could help with the transition for guys like Rosario.
6. Find a way to play T.J. Rivera. The kid can hit, and he had ice water in his veins. Let him super-sub — a little first, some second, a little third, and maybe an occasional at bat in the outfield. The goal should be to get him into the line-up about two thirds of the time.
8. Either sign Neil Walker or trade him. Walker has pop and is an adequate glove, but the cost and length of the deal will be the deciding factors. Walker will be 32 before the season ends, has had back surgery and, for the second year in a row, has spent time on the DL. Those are not good signs.
Are there alternatives? Walker will be out for a bit — torn hamstring — so the Mets have an opportunity to audition his replacement — whether it be Rivera (see above) or Gavin Cecchini, a former first-round pick as a shortstop who until this year had shown serious promise. Let’s see what they can do.
9. Find a real centerfielder. It may be worth playing Juan Lagares and Brandon Nimmo in a platoon for a while to see what they have — Lagares with the bat, Nimmo with the glove. My sense is that neither will take the position by the reins and run with it, which would then allow the Mets to approach the position with a fresh eye and make it a priority — either this year or in the off-season.
10. Let the Mets’ starting pitching work its way out of its inconsistency and slumps. Allow them to pitch through trouble and push their pitch counts up. Most of them are in their late 20s and it’s time to treat them like the aces they claim to and should be.
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| The Rev. Seth Kaper-Dale at a press conference in Washington DC. (courtesy of his gubernatorial campaign) |
Five months into the Trump administration and it is clear that the limited reprieve given to undocumented immigrants is over. It is not just the public stance of the administration, which has continued to press for a ban on travel to and from a half dozen Muslim-majority nations and announcements from the Department of Homeland Security and the U.S. Attorney General that the gloves were coming off. The evidence can be found in towns across the county, as immigration officials armed with a new set of priorities have been detaining immigrants who in recent years might have been allowed to live undisturbed and below the radar.
Immigration and Customs Enforcement has reported that immigration arrests were up 37.6 percent during the first 100 days of the Trump presidency, compared with the same time period in 2016.
Between Jan. 22 and April 29, 2017, ICE Enforcement and Removal Operations (ERO) deportation officers administratively arrested 41,318 individuals on civil immigration charges. Between Jan. 24 and April 30, 2016, ERO arrested 30,028.
“These statistics reflect President Trump’s commitment to enforce our immigration laws fairly and across the board. ICE agents and officers have been given clear direction to focus on threats to public safety and national security, which has resulted in a substantial increase in the arrest of convicted criminal aliens. However, when we encounter others who are in the country unlawfully, we will execute our sworn duty and enforce the law. As the data demonstrates, ICE continues to execute our mission professionally and in accordance with the law, and our communities will be much safer for it,” said ICE Acting Director Thomas Homan.
This change is about more than numbers, however. It is about human lives. I spoke recently with the Rev. Seth Kaper-Dale of the Highland Park Reformed Church, who has been working on behalf of undocumented immigrants who fled Indonesia to escape the brutality of the Sukharto regime in the late 1990s. Hundreds of asylum seekers took up residence in New Jersey, most not cognizant of a change in federal law that required them to file their asylum application within a year of entry. Most failed to do so, and most were then denied asylum on appeal. Many have been deported, including six in recent months.
Kaper-Dale, who is running for governor as an independent, said that many Indonesian immigrants had final orders of deportation, though they had been protected by a stay of removal issued by ICE. They were required to report to ICE on a regular basis — similar to what a parolee does. Kaper-Dale says they abided by the rules, but the changes in Washington have made it harder to do so. The stay was overridden by the Jan. 25 executive order on immigration, and those with final orders were now added to the priorities list. The New Jersey Indonesians who were deported recently were picked up by ICE because they followed the rules set by ICE and reported, he said.
Now, I’m in a spot where people don’t know if should report or not if report.
Kaper-Dale told me that
U.S. citizen kids lost their dad. A newlywed was separated from his wife, another guy supporting his disabled wife was deported. That’s what is going on. There are 43 others in the same boat living locally in Central Jersey, and we’re terrified for them and we don’t understand how an administration that touts family values can destroy life like this.
<!– /* Font Definitions */ @font-face {font-family:Cambria; panose-1:2 4 5 3 5 4 6 3 2 4; mso-font-charset:0; mso-generic-font-family:auto; mso-font-pitch:variable; mso-font-signature:3 0 0 0 1 0;} /* Style Definitions */ p.MsoNormal, li.MsoNormal, div.MsoNormal {mso-style-parent:""; margin-top:0in; margin-right:0in; margin-bottom:10.0pt; margin-left:0in; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:12.0pt; font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-ascii-font-family:Cambria; mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family:Cambria; mso-fareast-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-hansi-font-family:Cambria; mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font:minor-bidi;} @page Section1 {size:8.5in 11.0in; margin:1.0in 1.25in 1.0in 1.25in; mso-header-margin:.5in; mso-footer-margin:.5in; mso-paper-source:0;} div.Section1 {page:Section1;} –> Rosa Santana, of First Friends of NJ and NY, an immigration advocacy group, told me the increased enforcement is evident on the streets. There are multiple reports of ICE and border agents rounding up immigrants and raiding workplaces. She said immigration agents are “everywhere,” because ICE knows that “local police are refusing to help,.” The result, she said, is an increase in detention and deportation, which sends a chill through the community.
Supporters of the new crackdown say that the undocumented have broken the law, making no distinction between civil and criminal law. Some offer sympathies, but nearly all view these more aggressive priorities as necessary to a) protect national security, b) save American jobs, or c) preserve American culture. (This last, of course, is just code for preserving the United States as a mostly white nation, but that is an argument for another day.)
Illegal immigration does create problems, including in the national security and jobs areas. The current immigration system leaves immigrants vulnerable to unscrupulous employers who use workers’ immigration statuses to intimidate workers into silence. This allows employers to pay less than minimum wage, not pay overtime, short paychecks or illegally withhold pay, force workers to endure unhealthy or dangerous work conditions and so on, because workers are afraid of being deported if they speak up.
So, yes, reform is needed. But a crackdown — and some of the other punitive efforts, such as the proposed border wall, the Muslim ban, etc. — is both unwise and counterproductive, more likely to send immigrants further into the shadows while empowering employers even more.
This is not just conjecture. This is what workers and advocates are saying. It is an act of self-preservation — but it also makes it easier for the Trump administration to ramp up its efforts. Angy Rivera, in a piece in The Progressive in 2014, described the fear that gripped her family, a fear that pushed her to come out publicly as undocumented.
Doing so, however, was dangerous. Rivera said that her mother
blankly stared at me, and then she accused me of wanting to put myself and our family at risk. I was going against all the warnings she had given me.
Ultimately, she said, “Coming out was like breaking invisible chains that tied me down.”
We have a responsibility, if we believe that the crackdown is immoral, to shed light on its effects, to help give voice to those who fear repercussions should they speak out.
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Hank Kalet 