Two men who work at restaurants uptown and live in Montclair were taken into custody by federal immigration agents on the morning of October 22 on Bloomfield Avenue, between New Street and Hartley Street.
They are the latest people detained by ICE in Montclair since August. Advocates told the outlet the arrests have targeted restaurant and construction workers. Each time, the first accounts came from neighbors, co-workers and volunteers. Not the township. Not the police.
Where ICE Has Made Arrests in Montclair Since August
The arrests began on Aug. 19, when two Raymond’s kitchen workers were detained on their way to work on Bloomfield Avenue, as The Pod reported at the time. U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement later told Montclair Local the two were among six people detained in the Montclair area during what it called routine enforcement. Bridget Capawanna, a server at Raymond’s, told Montclair Local: “We can’t do anything about it.”
The next arrests came on Sept. 14, a block from Charles H. Bullock Elementary School, as families headed to school. Agents stopped a pickup truck at the Exxon station at Elm Street and Bloomfield Avenue, according to residents and video reviewed by Montclair Local. The video showed masked agents in vests marked “ERO,” for Enforcement and Removal Operations, the branch of ICE that makes arrests and carries out deportations. Montclair Local first reported four men detained and later reported five, all construction workers.
The men’s cases moved quickly. Two of them were put on a bus bound for a flight to Louisiana before a federal judge ordered that they stay in New Jersey, their attorney, Joe Fortunato, told Montclair Local. Fortunato later said he had secured the release of two of the men, and that on October 22 a bond was posted for another.
October brought more. On October 13, agents led a man into an unmarked SUV at Gates Avenue and Union Street, Montclair Local reported. That same day, Deputy Mayor Susan Shin Andersen told Patch of another confirmed enforcement sighting near a public school. Mayor Renee Baskerville confirmed to Montclair Local that ICE detained people in the township on three days that week.
Fortunato, who told Montclair Local he represents other Montclair residents, put the trend plainly: “It appears to be an escalation.”
That raises the question residents keep asking: why doesn’t the town know more?
Why Montclair Police Can’t Confirm ICE Arrests
Montclair police have said repeatedly that they weren’t told about these arrests in advance. “Montclair PD was not aware of any activity by ICE this morning,” police Lt. Terence Turner told Montclair Local after the Sept. 14 arrests. After the Oct. 22 arrests, the department told the outlet it again had not been notified.
The Pod hit the same wall. Several witnesses told the Pod they saw people taken off Bloomfield Avenue by what appeared to be ICE agents, and someone sent co-host Farnoosh Torabi video of the scene. When she contacted Montclair police, they had no information about it.
“If I had to guess, I’d say that ICE is not coordinating with Montclair police,” co-host Mike Schreiber said on the October 29 episode.
State law is part of the reason. In March, Gov. Mikie Sherrill signed a bill that turned New Jersey’s 2018 Immigrant Trust Directive, an attorney general’s order limiting police cooperation with ICE, into permanent law. The law bars state and local police from helping ICE with raids or giving agents local resources such as office space, databases and property.
ICE hasn’t filled the gap. When Montclair Local asked about October reports of detentions in Montclair, ICE spokesperson Christine Cuttita did not confirm them and asked for the detainees’ names. She did not say how many people were detained or where they were being held, the outlet reported.
With the federal government saying little, the township has turned to the tools it controls.
What Montclair Has Done About ICE, and What Critics Say
The township’s main tool is the Montclair Trust Act, an ordinance the council adopted this spring. It bars federal immigration agencies from township property and records unless they show a judicial warrant, meaning one signed by a judge. “You’re not going to be able to come here and try to detain people” without one, Shin Andersen said at the time. She has also said the township cannot stop federal enforcement, only limit its own cooperation.
The ordinance covers township property such as parks and the library, not the sidewalks and gas stations where the arrests have happened. The school district adopted similar protocols in early 2025, barring ICE from school buildings without a judicial warrant. In July, the township said it would pull its deposits from Citizens Bank over the bank’s ties to ICE. The township also keeps a Know Your Rights page with resources from the state and the New Jersey Alliance for Immigrant Justice, first posted by the mayor and council in January 2025.
Not everyone supports that approach. Michael D. Byrne, chairman of the Montclair Republican County Committee, said in a statement to Montclair Local that the council should end its “illegal Trust Act,” referring to the local ordinance, and have police help ICE carry out orderly operations, which he argued would keep everyone at the scene safer.
For now, the township’s position stands, and residents have built their own response around it.
What to Do If You Witness ICE in Montclair
Volunteers now do much of the work of confirming arrests. Residents coordinate on encrypted group chats and lead regular community walks.
Many responders call the Deportation & Immigration Response Equipo, known as DIRE, a volunteer-run New Jersey hotline created in 2017 to support families facing detention or deportation. DIRE runs rapid response teams: trained volunteers who go to the scene, document what happened and connect families with help.
The state also takes reports. The New Jersey Attorney General’s office runs an online portal where residents can report possible misconduct by immigration agents and upload photos or video in 10 languages, the state announced in February. State officials have also advised residents not to put themselves in the way of law enforcement.
Training is available, too. Shin Andersen announced a Know Your Rights workshop run by the New Jersey Alliance for Immigrant Justice that took place on October 27. For anyone who missed it, the alliance offers a six-part version online.
The questions haven’t stopped. Jill Beckman-Gaynes, co-lead of the UU Congregation’s Immigration Action Team, told Montclair Local that advocates had not confirmed whether agents detained a third man on Oct. 22.
If You See an Arrest or Need Help
- DIRE rapid response hotline: 1-888-DIRE-SOS (1-888-347-3767)
- Report an ICE encounter to the state: njoag.gov/portal
- Know Your Rights training: New Jersey Alliance for Immigrant Justice, njaij.org/kyr
- Township resources: Know Your Rights page on montclairnjusa.org
- Legal help: Rutgers-Newark Immigrant Rights Clinic, (973) 353-5292, currently taking only New Jersey residents facing deportation cases in immigration court (listed by Bloomfield Township)
- Bond assistance: Envision Freedom Fund, a nationwide bail fund that has paid bonds for people detained
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