A local immigration group will protest Saturday outside the Atlantic City Police Department alleging that officers are aiding ICE.
The demonstration follows motor vehicle stops of at least two group members, who were cited for various traffic violations while chasing ICE vehicles throughout the city.
Atlantic City police say the traffic stops are about keeping the streets safe.
“As a reminder to the public, ACPD follows the New Jersey Attorney General’s Immigrant Trust Directive,” Police Chief James Sarkos wrote in a Facebook post, citing the directive that does not allow police to participate in ICE activities. “To suggest otherwise is unfair to the officer and misleading to the public.”
But El Pueblo Unido Founder Cristian Moreno-Rodriguez claims it proves police are collaborating with ICE agents to illegally target Hispanic residents.
“We’re out here warning our neighbors,” Moreno-Rodriguez tells a police officer who pulled him over. “Children are going to come home from school today and not see their parents because ICE kidnapped them because you let them get away.”
The dashboard-mounted camera video streamed live on Facebook included the alleged motor vehicle infractions as the group leader followed an ICE vehicle through at least three red lights, all while in contact with other members letting them know where ICE was.
The vehicle he is following can be seen with its emergency lights on.
Moreno-Rodriguez questioned why police did not stop the ICE vehicle for its driving.
“We called in the blue Ford Explorer running red lights. I called it in 30 minutes ago,” he tells the officer.
“So you think that gives you the right to run multiple red lights?” the officer replies.
“So now you care more about traffic than people getting kidnapped, right?” Moreno-Rodriguez shoots back.
The stop just before noon Thursday came a day after another member of the group was cited for motor vehicle violations after he was pulled over in front of the Clayton G. Graham Public Safety Building on Atlantic Avenue.
In that case, police released traffic camera footage showing the car go into the oncoming lane in an attempt to apparently confront another ICE vehicle.
The name of that driver was not released.
Now the group plans to be outside the Public Safety Building at 11 a.m. Saturday.
“Over 500 people will be out there protesting with your name on it because of the disgraceful actions you took,” Moreno-Rodriguez tells Officer Moustafa Maarouf, who the El Pueblo Unido leader calls a traitor. “We’re gonna protest you to show you how wrong you are.”
Moreno-Rodriguez received more than a dozen citations, including reckless driving, four failures to observe a traffic control device and failure to produce a driver’s license or registration, court records show.
In the video, Moreno-Rodriguez tells Maarouf that he does not have his documentation because he was in a crash a week before and the documents were in that vehicle.
He is eventually is allowed to leave.
“I’m on my way,” he tells the person he has been in contact with throughout. “They gave me tickets but I don’t give a (expletive).”
Moreno-Rodriguez also posted a photo outside the Public Safety Building with a long paper apparently listing all his citations.
“Thank you for the CVS receipt, Atlantic City Police Department,” he wrote.
The post also includes a link to donate to the group’s legal defense fund.
El Pueblo Unido also was one of 40 Atlantic City nonprofits to receive a grant from the Atlantic City Community Fund in July.
Moreno-Rodriguez also has a brother who joined the Atlantic City Police Department last year.