N.J. fully prosecutes attacks on immigrants, Dow says

TRENTON - Attorney General Paula Dow said Tuesday that two of this year's highest-profile attacks on immigrants in New Jersey did not meet the legal threshold for bias crimes but were being prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law.

Speaking at the annual conference of New Jersey's Human Relations Council - which focused this year on immigration issues - Dow emphasized that educational outreach to immigrant communities needed to continue, especially in encouraging crime victims to come forward without fear of being reported to immigration authorities.

"New Jersey stands today as one of the most densely populated and diverse states in the nation, and while that diversity gives us strength, it gives us challenges," Dow said.

Dow mentioned the cases of 49-year-old Divyendu Sinha, who was attacked in June while out walking with his wife and two sons near their Old Bridge home, and 47-year-old Abelino Mazariego, a father of four who was attacked in July while sitting on a park bench in Summit. Both men died days later from their injuries, and each attack sparked fear among immigrant communities across the state.

Neither case met the legal requisite for a bias crime, but five teenagers have been indicted on murder charges in Sinha's case, and three teenagers face murder charges in Mazariego's death.

"In both cases, charges of the most serious kind were brought," Dow said, adding that criticism over why they weren't classified as bias incidents did not address how complicated the issue is.

"It's essential that we work with what tools we have, and not shy away from problems because they don't fit into the neat little packages before us," Dow said.

The Attorney General's Office has been working with community leaders, religious institutions, and immigrant groups to better educate people about the factors needed to prove bias crimes, according to Supervising Deputy Attorney General Hester Agudosi.

Being attuned to things like statements made during an attack - comments sometimes not understood because of language barriers - can be essential in proving bias, Agudosi said.

"For an immigrant community, this may seem like an academic exercise of whether it meets the threshold of the law," Agudosi said. "The impact on the community is the same because the fear is there."

Law enforcement officials, community activists, and members of local human relations councils from across the state attended the Trenton conference. During the meeting, individuals and organizations promoting tolerance were honored for their work.

The New Jersey Legislature created the state-level Human Relations Council in 1997 to address issues of prejudice, bias, and violence based on race, color, religion, national origin, ethnicity, sexual orientation, gender, or disability.