Plainfield PD Stands By Release Of Man To ICE After Traffic Stop

PLAINFIELD, NJ — Some immigration advocates argue that Plainfield police violated New Jersey's Immigrant Trust Directive when they handed a North Brunswick man over to officials with Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) — but Plainfield police stand by their actions.

Melvin Herrera-Interiano, 50, was stopped by Plainfield police on Nov. 19, 2019 for a traffic violation, said Plainfield police Capt. David Guarino. He was pulled over for making an illegal turn at a traffic light.

Guarino said Plainfield police ran Herrera-Interiano’s name in the National Crime Information Center database, which they do anytime they stop someone.

The search turned up an existing ICE deportation warrant, signed by a federal judge.

"It was a warrant signed by a judge," said Guarino. "ICE was here in less than three hours and took him."

Herrera-Interiano was taken into custody by Plainfield police and handed over to ICE. He has remained in ICE custody in Newark ever since, and will soon be deported back to Honduras, said an ICE spokesman.

He worked as a construction worker here in the U.S. and leaves behind three children, two of whom were born here and are diagnosed with autism, reported MyCentralJersey, which first reported the story.

"I know this is not easy, this situation, but I want them to look at our side of this,'' the mother of his children, Geyde Zapata of Nor Brunswick, told MyCentralJersey. "We pay taxes in this country."

An ICE spokesman said Herrera-Interiano was detained because he violated a previous federal deportation order.

"Herrera-Interiano, a Hondoran national, entered the U.S. illegally at an unknown date and location, and was later encountered and arrested by Border Patrol on May 29, 2005," said ICE spokesman Emilio Dabul. "He was issued a notice to appear in immigration court and failed to do so. He was ordered removed in absentia by an immigration judge Oct. 3, 2005. He is currently in ICE custody, awaiting removal.”

New Jersey Attorney General Gurbir Grewal, a Democrat appointed by Gov. Phil Murphy, implemented the Immigrant Trust Directive in 2018; it is a set of laws that limit how much local law enforcement can work with ICE.

The directive prohibits local law enforcement from holding someone for ICE unless that person has been convicted of a serious crime, such as sex assault or murder, or has a pending deportation order from a judge.

Guarino said Plainfield police were fully compliant with both the AG's order, and federal immigration law.

"It was a signed warrant by a judge," the police captain told Patch. "People are upset, I understand. It's a delicate subject."

He said the Plainfield Police Department is not under any investigation by the Attorney General for what they did.