Reported ICE activity in Hoboken and Jersey City, N.J. leaves many residents on edge
Tensions are running high in Hudson County, New Jersey, after reports of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents arresting several people in Hoboken and Jersey City earlier Sunday.
Nearly 200 people packed an emergency meeting at night in Hoboken to learn more about their rights.
"These stories are deeply troubling"
Mayor Emily Jabbour said cellphone video shows an ICE agent in an unmarked car making an arrest at the light rail station in Hoboken, near the Jersey City border.
"Our community is a community of immigrants and it's scary to have them here," one resident said.
Jabbour sent out an alert warning that three people were arrested, two of them local business employees.
"These stories are deeply troubling. It makes you feel unsafe in your own community and it makes you worry for your neighbors," Jabbour said.
At the emergency meeting, concerned citizens given guidance on their legal rights and how to seek legal help. Some called on local police to take a stronger role.
"We know these agents use unmarked, unregistered vehicles in order to avoid identification," resident Andrew Wilson said. "If a police officer sees an unmarked, unregistered car, they need to pull that driver over immediately and impound that vehicle."
"People don't want their neighbor kidnapped"
Last week, Jersey City Mayor James Solomon signed an executive order protecting the city's immigrants. He is echoing calls for change.
"The videos are disturbing and show people on their way to work being detained. That makes us less safe," Solomon said.
"People don't want their neighbor kidnapped. Right now, [ICE] is coming for migrants. It's going to come for all of us. It doesn't matter if you're white, if you're Black, if you're Latino," Hoboken resident Ernest Boyd said.
CBS News New York reached out to the Department of Homeland Security about Sunday's enforcement, but did not immediately hear back.
Meanwhile, Hoboken officials say more community meetings are planned in the coming days.
