Hudson County Commissioner Bill O’Dea (D-2) says he’s asked the Hudson County Prosecutor’s Office to decide if certain sheriff’s office documents related to U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) are public records or not.
By Dan Israel/Hudson County View
O’Dea said he has asked the county prosecutor’s office to seek a copy of the internal memo detailing the ICE encounter in the county courthouse in February, review it, and advise the board if the document is subject to OPRA requests.
He added that if the County Prosecutor Wayne Mello refuses to do so, he will write a letter to the New Jersey Attorney General Jennifer Davenport for guidance on the matter.
“We can request the prosecutor, who. .. is the top law enforcement officer for the county, to weigh in or seek to get that document and then determine whether or not the nature of that document is quote unquote ‘an internal document’ or a document that would or should have been a report,” O’Dea explained.
“If it looks like a report, and it reads like a report, and you call it an internal memo, it’s still a report.”
O’Dea told the board he made the request after the issue was brought to light by Jersey City resident Courtney Walker at the recent commissioners meeting.
Walker told the board she made two OPRA requests for any reports or emails documenting encounters with ICE that the sheriff’s office, made in compliance with County Executive Craig Guy’s executive order on federal immigration enforcement, had on file in 2026.
The OPRA requests were made on March 4th and March 20th. Initially, the sheriff’s office told Walker that another week was needed to complete the requests before denying both on March 27th.
Walker also said the HCSO indicated that no such records exist, despite previous discussions between Walker and the board which indicated the existence of some documentation of incidents with ICE.
“This is incredibly confusing to me, because, as we’ve discussed before this board multiple times, we know for a fact that there should be at least two reports. The first from February 6th, when an ICE agent entered the Hudson County courthouse, which multiple Hudson County electeds responded to,” she declared.
“The second should be from a phone call I made to [County Counsel] Alberico [De Pierro] on March 2nd, where I reported a potential ICE sighting also by the county courthouse. That second report turned out to be someone confusing a large sheriff’s presence for ICE activity, but a report still should have been generated from that call.”
In addition, Walker raised concerns related to the ICE sighting near the county courthouse on March 2nd.
While it was a false alarm and no federal immigration authorities were present, Walker and other advocates were dismayed by a vehicle on the premises that displayed political signage supporting Republican politicians next to an official HCSO placard.
“The vehicle was a green jeep and had a sign displayed on … the dashboard reading ‘Official Business, Office of the Hudson County Sheriff.’ The vehicle also displayed a Jack Ciattarelli sign on the front grill and a Donald Trump bumper stick on the rear. I fully support freedom of speech and expression,” Walker continued.
“However, political messaging appearing alongside signage indicating that the vehicle was conducting official business for the Sheriff’s Office is concerning to me.”
Walker questioned if any records exist of the ICE encounters, also asking for clarification if any county policies govern the display of political messaging on vehicles which are marked for official county business.
While Walker conceded one of their requests may have been worded incorrectly, the other one was not and should have yielded some sort of a response including documents.
“As far as the first incident where the ICE agent showed up, there is no record that exists that is subject to OPRA. So, that won’t be released,” Jeremy Sullivan, of the HCSO, explained.
There was an internal memo that memorialized that incident. As far as the second one where you reported it, there was no discovery of any ICE agents. Therefore, no report was generated.”
Commissioner Al Cifelli (D-9) asked if there was any recourse the board had in regards to HCSO OPRA determinations, to which Sullivan stated there is not. O’Dea noted that the board can ask for intervention from the HCPO, which he is doing.
Amid Cifelli and Walker chattering, Board Chair Anthony Romano (D-5) then attempted to end the conversation early.
“We’re not going to banter back and forth with the discussion with the speaker.”
Romano had Sullivan clarify the HCSO guidelines regarding political messaging as part of Walker’s inquiry before wrapping up the back and forth.
According to Sullivan, new County Sheriff Jimmy Davis has not issued any official business placards to his officers, which Walker disputed. Sullivan theorized that they could have been issued by Davis’ predecessor, Sheriff Frank Schillari.
O’Dea suggested that Davis request all sheriffs officers to return any such placards, since he’s not issued any yet.
He said its the “worst kept secret” that employees of the HCSO regularly use the placards “everywhere” to avoid getting parking tickets.
As they discussed sharing the license plate information of the vehicle with the Sheriff’s Office, Romano again tried to end the conversation.
This prompted O’Dea to snap at him: “How do you stop elected officials from having discussions over issues that the public comes? That’s kind of unfair to me.”
“We’re going back and forth on a subject that’s going to be handled,” Romano replied.
“We’re not going back and forth, we’re just asking a question,” Cifelli added.
While Romano contended that Sullivan said he was going to investigate the jeep’s license plate and pass along his findings, O’Dea and Cifelli said they never heard him state that.
Returning to the discussion, Walker said she had shared information with De Pierro who couldn’t speak on it citing a human resources issue and thus why they addressed the board.
De Pierro said that he received the email and sent it to Sullivan, flagging it as a matter that needs to be looked into – which he said Sullivan has since done. While Walker had another question for the board, Romano finally stopped them with a simple “Time out.”
Sullivan, echoing De Pierro, said the jeep was a private vehicle, but he would not comment on if the owner was a current employee or not.
He told O’Dea that he would find out if there were more outstanding placards and have sheriffs officers turn them in.
Later in the meeting, Sullivan returned to the topic of the OPRAs, directly responding to O’Dea.
“If the county prosecutor wants to come in and second guess that decision, that is welcome. The sheriff will hide behind nothing,” Sullivan asserted.
“If the attorney general wants to come in and question that decision, the sheriff will sit down and speak to them and allow them to question and oversee it. If the FBI wants to come, the United States attorney general wants to come in, there is nothing being hidden here.”
