Father Duberney Villamizar was preparing to celebrate 8 a.m. Mass at St. Margaret’s Roman Catholic Church on Tuesday when the alerts started coming: ICE on MLK.
His phone vibrated in his pocket throughout the brief service until Communion, when he glanced through the church’s glass doors and saw a man sprinting down Speedwell Avenue from the Lincoln Apartments toward the firehouse, chased by an ICE agent.
Cutting Mass short, Father Duberney stepped outside still in his vestments and found an ICE SUV had stopped in a no‑parking lane near the Morristown Jewish Center, flung its door open into traffic and been struck by what he described as a blue Volkswagen SUV.
Video: Kids on school bus watch ICE arrests along Speedwell Avenue:
A school bus full of elementary students screamed as ICE agents transferred handcuffed people between vehicles, he said, and the ICE convoy sped off toward Morris Plains after a large Sheriff’s vehicle arrived.
The priest believes four to six individuals, including a car wash employee, were detained in in this latest in a series of Morristown sweeps since January. One detainee was released after producing legal documents, he said.
“Before, it was you are innocent until they prove you are guilty. But now is the opposite,” Father Duberney said.
Video: Traffic catches glimpse of ICE arrest in Morristown:
He minced no words in noting the immediate and cumulative effects of President Trump’s crackdown on his largely Latino flock. Immigrant parents are skipping badly needed paychecks to hole up at home with their children, who are missing classes at school, he said. Hispanic businesses are suffering.
“This is all about intimidation. You create chaos in order to intimidate people,” Father Duberney said.
The U.S. Department of Homeland Security, which oversees Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), did not immediately provide detainee details requested by Morristown Green.
Nor did Morristown Police respond to questions seeking confirmation of the motor vehicle incident. And Morris County Sheriff James Gannon indicated he would need a little more time to determine whether anyone from his office had breached a state policy by collaborating with ICE — a topic of heated speculation on social media and at Tuesday’s town council meeting.
‘NOT ONLY FEAR BUT TERROR’
Councilman David Silva said ICE raids have created “not only fear but terror” in Morristown’s Latino community, including green card holders and U.S. citizens. Families are afraid to attend public events—including his church festival last weekend—and unsure whether arrests are random or targeted.
Silva, who is a Colombian immigrant and a minister, said he received “nasty” email after speaking out against ICE at the last meeting.
Choking back emotion, he argued that while federal authorities talk about deporting “hardcore criminals,” in practice enforcement is only cover to “take people and harm our community,” sowing chaos and fear with deep psychological consequences for children and adults.
Silva’s remarks came as audience members pressed town officials to investigate social media claims suggesting local authorities collaborated with ICE. Such activity would violate New Jersey’s Immigrant Trust Directive, a state policy endorsed by Morristown officials and meant to foster immigrants’ trust in police.
“Be someone they can turn to, please,” said East Hanover resident Anthony Lee, who identified himself as a member of the Democratic Socialists of America (DSA).
Morris Township resident Aaron Stern, also from the DSA, referred to photos and videos circulating online Tuesday that seemed to show a Morris County Sheriff’s Officer collaborating with a masked ICE agent. He asked if the town had any details; Administrator Jillian Barrick responded that local officials get “very little information” about ICE raids.
“We’re relying a lot on the same information that everybody else has,” Barrick said, adding that Morristown’s ability to glean information from the county sheriff — a separate, constitutional office — “is going to be very limited.”
Morristown Green reached out to Sheriff Gannon, who said he would look into the matter. As a Republican candidate for lieutenant governor last fall, he vowed to “take the handcuffs off our police” and restore cooperation with ICE.
Mayor Tim Dougherty, a Democrat, said the coming congressional midterm election offers the best hope for curbing ICE.
“If people have to be deported, it should be done with dignity, respect, and kindness — not the way they just swoop in and put people in detention centers,” the five-term mayor said. “The only way you’re going to stop that is by voting in November, and voting in droves.”
Facebook video shows flurry of ICE activity in Morristown, Sept. 22, 2026:
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