Recent Grad Wins Change In Immigration Policy

Carlos Rojas was 12 years old when he came from Peru on a tourist visa with his mother and brother to join his father in Perth Amboy.

The family members stayed long after their visas expired. Rojas graduated from high school and then Kean University, and wrote about the experiences as an illegal for a college course on public speaking and debate.

Last May, Rojas, now 25, reached back to his class instructor as part of his work to aid immigrants. He approached Mohamed Jalloh in an effort to get Union County to change its policy of detaining people who have already served a criminal sentence or who can make bail solely because of their immigrant status on a request from federal authorities.

Jalloh, who is also a Union County freeholder, listened to Rojas. As a result, the county this month made the policy change.

Rojas “made an argument the way we had taught students to make arguments in class,” Jalloh said. “He had laws to support his statements and evidence to support his facts.”

Although Rojas now has authorization to live and work in the U.S., a close family member who works delivering furniture does not.

“I live with the constant fear that he will be pulled over and detained. When he goes to work, I never know if he’s coming home,” Rojas said. “This policy change provides another layer of protection.”

For years, Union County, like others across the state, would hold those who had served jail time or were able to meet bail requirements for up to 48 hours after they should have been released on request of the Immigration Customs and Enforcement agency, which wanted time to pick up and further detain them.

Rojas argued that the additional time in jail was illegal — and Union County officials researched the issue and agreed.

The county will no longer hold people as federal detainees if they have completed a sentence, or have met bail requirements, and have no outstanding warrants to keep them locked up.

“This change is rooted in the clear delineation of the law,” Jalloh said.

Now a community organizer for Faith in New Jersey, a private, nonprofit network of more than 100 communities in the state, to Rojas, it is one less challenge that immigrants face.

“Being undocumented, you are always at risk of being detained, if you are stopped for a taillight that is out or for not wearing a seat belt,” he said.

This article appeared in print on page 4 of the August 25th, 2014 edition of Hamodia.