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"The overriding mission of law enforcement officers in this state is to enforce the state's criminal laws and to protect the community that they serve," Milgram said. "This requires the cooperation of, and positive relationships with, all members of the community. Public safety suffers if individuals believe they cannot come forward to report a crime or cooperate with law enforcement." The 7-page directive also sets guidelines for municipalities that apply to federal immigration officials for Section 287(g) authority, which deputizes local, county and state officers to enforce federal immigration laws. While the directive grants the full exercise of federal immigration authority at county jails and state prisons for incarcerated undocumented immigrants, Milgram said, street cops participating in 287(g) could invoke federal immigration authority only after an arrest is made.

Morristown's application for 287(g) authority, the first in the state, has generated heated debate in the Morris County community. One other New Jersey municipality has inquired about the program, according to ICE officials, who would not identify the town. Milgram's announcement came amid questions about how Jose Carranza, an illegal immigrant from Peru who is a chief suspect in the Newark schoolyard killings, was released on bail earlier this year after being charged with child rape. Authorities are still determining whether a second suspect in the killings, Melvin Jovel, 18, was also in the country illegally.

The case has drawn national attention from those who decry illegal immigration, including Rep.Tom Tancredo of Colorado. The Republican presidential candidate visited Newark Monday and said local officials were complicit in the murders for refusing to deny government services to undocumented immigrants. In Newark and other cities with large immigrant populations, officials note that detectives investigating robberies, rapes and murders already are struggling to develop informants among a population fearful of the police. Adopting the role of immigration cops would make that job even tougher and allow criminals to go free and commit even more crime, they have said.

"I do not want to create a chill in my community where people are afraid to come forward to police and report crimes," Newark Mayor Cory Booker said last week. "Undocumented immigrants and immigrants within our city are an important part of our fabric. And my police department, it is not their role or responsibility." About one in five of New Jersey's 8.7 million residents was born in other countries, according to U.S. Census figures. The state is also home to an estimated 450,000 illegal immigrants.