En route to a recent vacation to New England, I stopped in my old hometown of Princeton, N.J., for coffee and picked up a copy of the Town Topics, the local paper where I found my first car and my first job back in the ’80s.

The front-page story was about an attempt on July 10 by Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s Enforcement and Removal Operations (ICE/ERO) agents to arrest two illegal immigrants from Guatemala. Both men were high risks for hurting someone in future and any sane community would welcome their removal from the streets.

The ICE report was as follows: “ERO arrests twice-removed noncitizen in Princeton while second absconds due to civilian interference.” (Now steeped in Biden-era woke language, ICE calls such men “unlawfully present noncitizens.” Conflating this with another euphemism, I have coined the acronym UNJIP—“Undocumented Noncitizen Justice Involved Person”—for use henceforth. You saw it on the BorderLine first).

One of the Guatemalans, 29, had been deported from the U.S. twice already when he was charged with assault and robbery—in Princeton, so presumably his victims were locals.

What about their safety and their rights? Not surprisingly, the guy didn’t show up for his hearing at municipal court, which issued a warrant for his arrest. So, when ICE picked him up, he not only had entered the U.S. illegally three times (twice after being deported, which is a crime), but he was wanted for a violent crime.

ICE agents spotted the second Guatemalan, a 27-year-old who had been convicted of drunken driving in 2023. But in running after him, they “were blocked by people whose stated goal was to stop the arrest.”

ICE said that the “unfortunate and unacceptable interference from outside actors not only created a dangerous situation for the public and our officers, but also impeded ERO Newark from the performance of our duties.”

ICE........

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