Updated

Updated · The New York Times · Sep 2

ICE Chase on Route 130 Injures 1 East Brunswick Mayor's Wife in North Brunswick Crash

Updated

Updated · The New York Times · Sep 2

ICE Chase on Route 130 Injures 1 East Brunswick Mayor's Wife in North Brunswick Crash

Q: Why did federal agents initiate a high-stakes traffic stop during rush hour that ultimately sent a local mayor's wife to the hospital?

Federal agents said they made the stop as part of a targeted ICE immigration enforcement operation, but they have not publicly explained why it was carried out at that location and time, nor have they identified the driver or specified the underlying immigration violation. What is clear from official statements is that ICE officers stopped the vehicle in North Brunswick during the morning commute. ICE said the driver refused lawful commands and would not exit the car. After repeated warnings, agents tried to remove the person from the vehicle. Witness and advocate accounts say agents broke the driver’s window during that effort. The driver then accelerated away at high speed, ran a red light, and crashed into another vehicle driven by Dr. Penelope Cohen, injuring her and another motorist. So the immediate reason the stop turned into a hospitalizing crash was the driver’s flight from the ICE stop, according to local officials and ICE. The larger unanswered issue is why ICE chose to execute the vehicle stop on a busy Route 130 corridor during rush hour. Neither ICE nor the Department of Homeland Security has publicly provided that operational rationale. Local police said they were not involved in the federal stop and responded only after the collision. Penelope Cohen’s injuries were reported as not life-threatening, and the driver was later apprehended and placed in federal custody pending immigration proceedings.

3 articles · Updated · The New York Times · Sep 2

Dr. Penelope Cohen was hospitalized with non-life-threatening injuries after a Wednesday morning crash on Route 130 during an ICE pursuit in North Brunswick.
About 7:30 a.m., the pursued driver fled after federal agents stopped the car and smashed a window, then sped onto the four-lane highway, North Brunswick Mayor Francis Womack III said.
The driver was taken into federal custody and was also being treated at a hospital, according to North Brunswick police.
The crash comes as ICE activity has intensified in New Jersey: the Deportation Data Project said July detentions topped 2,100, more than double the roughly 850 to 950 monthly arrests from February to May.