A Sept. 23 explanation addressed questions about a county officer’s presence on Speedwell Avenue. Details about the federal arrests remain unconfirmed in the available reports.
MORRISTOWN, NJ – Morris County Sheriff James Gannon said an officer seen with a federal immigration agent on Speedwell Avenue on Sept. 22 had stopped to assist at a vehicle crash. His account, reported by Morristown Green on Sept. 23, followed questions from residents about whether county officers had participated in an immigration enforcement operation.
Gannon told the publication that the officer was traveling to replace a tracking-device battery for a Project Lifesaver client when a federal agent waved him down at approximately 8:27 a.m. The program helps locate people with conditions that can cause them to wander.
The sheriff’s office gave Patch a similar account: the officer determined that no one was injured and left after Morristown police arrived. A second sheriff’s officer departed without getting out of his patrol vehicle after learning that additional assistance was unnecessary.
Morristown Public Safety Director Michael Corcoran Jr. told Morristown Green that the police accident reports were under review. The sheriff’s explanation establishes his office’s account of the response; the reports reviewed for this article do not include the underlying accident report or an independent finding about officers’ conduct.
The crash occurred during federal enforcement activity witnessed by Father Duberney Villamizar, pastor of St. Margaret’s Roman Catholic Church. In a separate Sept. 23 report by Morristown Green’s Kevin Coughlin, the priest described seeing an agent chase a man along Speedwell Avenue during morning Mass.
Villamizar said a passing vehicle struck the open door of an ICE SUV near the Morristown Jewish Center. He also described children aboard a school bus witnessing people being transferred between federal vehicles. Those details are attributed to his eyewitness account.
Residents raised questions about local involvement at the Sept. 22 Town Council meeting, according to Coughlin’s report. Councilman David Silva described fear among immigrant families, while Town Administrator Jillian Barrick said municipal officials receive limited information about federal immigration operations.
The distinction between immigration enforcement and other police duties matters under New Jersey’s rules. The state’s current explanation of the Immigrant Trust Directive says state, county and municipal officers generally may not stop, question, arrest, search or detain someone solely because of immigration status. It also generally restricts participation in civil immigration enforcement.
The same guidance identifies exceptions, including enforcement of New Jersey criminal laws and compliance with valid judicial warrants or court orders. It directs people who believe the policy was violated to contact the relevant police department or county prosecutor’s office. The guidance alone does not determine whether a particular encounter violated the rules.
The available reports do not establish a verified total of people detained in the Sept. 22 operation, their immigration cases or any criminal charges. Morristown Green reported that the Department of Homeland Security had not supplied the detainee information it requested. Those unanswered questions limit what can be concluded about the operation’s purpose and outcome.