A law enforcement officer identified by other officer on the scene as a US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officer on Bank Street Thursday morning. (Photo by Brian Donohue. Click to enlarge.)
By BRIAN DONOHUE
Federal immigration agents swooped down on a Bank Street home and appeared to arrest a man identified as the suspect involved in the Feb. 4 attack of a neighbor with a metal club, a gun and gasoline Thursday morning.
At around 10 am, a line of unmarked cars and officers in bullet proof vests were seen near a home at 78 Bank Street (see photo below). One officer identified the agents as US Customs and Immigration Enforcement officers working out of the agency’s Newark Field Office.
He said they had just arrested the Salvadoran-born suspect in a the Feb. 4 attack of a man who lived across the street.
In that incident, Jose Hernandez-Ruano, 23, was charged with aggravated assault, possession of weapon for unlawful use, unlawful possession of weapon and other charges, according to Red Bank police. (see story below)
RED BANK: MAN ARRESTED FOR CLUB TO THE HEAD, GASOLINE ASSAULT
Hernandez-Ruano was released from the Monmouth County Correctional Institution in Freehold the next day following a detention hearing, according to the Monmouth County Prosecutors Office. Among the conditions of his release was to not return to the scene of the alleged crime, which sits directly across the street from the house where the agent said he was arrested.
Police and neighbors say a party was taking place at a home across the street at 75 Bank Street on Feb. 4 when a man they had not met arrived and began arguing with the victim. The man then hit the victim in the head with an unknown metal object, knocking him to the ground. While the victim was on the ground the suspect doused him with gasoline and threatened him with a gun, police said.
It is unclear if the suspect in the attack was the only arrest made in the operation. Calls and emails to ICE’s media line received an automatic reply saying someone would get back to us. The phone number listed on the agency’s Newark Field Office web site appeared to be disconnected.
Red Bank Police Chief Mike Frazee said he was not aware of the arrest by federal agents this morning and there were no Red Bank Police officers on the scene.
The Monmouth County Sheriff’s Office was one of two New Jersey counties that had participated in the federal 287(g) program in which sheriff’s officers at the county jail could be trained and deputized to perform immigration enforcement duties and coordinate with ICE to identify inmates who could be deported.
That program was eliminated in 2019 by then Attorney General Gurbir Grewal’s “Immigrant Trust Directive” which barred New Jersey law enforcement agencies from participating. The directive reads however, that it “explicitly allows any state, county, or local law enforcement agency to refer any individual to ICE who has been charged with a ‘violent or serious offense.”
Have a news tip or story idea? redbankgreen editor Brian Donohue may be reached via email at [email protected] or by calling or texting 848-331-8331. Do you value the news coverage provided by redbankgreen? Please become a financial supporter if you haven’t already. Click here to set your own level of monthly or annual contribution.
