Alexis Mascitti Brown was driving to Mennen Arena for a morning of ice skating last month when she came upon ICE activity on Abbett Avenue, pulled over, and began recording video from the sidewalk.
In her video, which quickly went viral, and at Tuesday’s Morristown council meeting, the 5-foot-2, 110-pound mother of two asserted she was assaulted by a burly federal immigration officer in tactical gear who declined to give his name — while Morristown police looked on.
“I just kind of didn’t realize I wasn’t where I wasn’t supposed to be, and so a verbal warning would have been just fine, and I would have moved. But instead, I was shoved,” she told the mayor and council, asking what she should do to keep herself and other residents safe.
Video by Alexis Mascitti Brown, Oct. 29, 2026:
Other audience members were sharply critical of the “crowd control” response by Morristown police on that morning of Oct. 29, 2026, suggesting it gave the appearance of police cooperation with ICE, prohibited by state law.
The mayor, police chief and public safety director vigorously maintained that police were only there to protect the public — called to the scene by a Morris County dispatcher, according to the mayor, in a testy exchange with speakers who were cut short by the council’s three-minute limit on public statements.
“If ICE is there without a warrant, they need to bring their own crowd control. (Morristown’s police presence) is breaking public trust with police,” Joseph Bellomo insisted to Morristown Green.
The Morris Plains man had gotten wind of an ICE vehicle near a school bus stop at Abbett and Lincoln Street on that October morning and helped escort children onto school buses, he said, to reassure them. Then he heard about the enforcement action and joined other bystanders there.
Trink Prinz, a former member of Morristown’s now-defunct EMT squad, told the council that she found videos appearing to show collaboration of Morristown police with ICE “deeply disturbing.”
Adam McGovern, of the Project NINJA group opposing an ICE detention center in Roxbury, called for more “proactive noncooperation” with ICE.
MORE TO COME
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