NEW YORK, NY May 01, 2007 —Throughout the region, rallies are being staged in support of undocumented immigrants. But in Morristown, New Jersey, protestors will be zeroing in on that town's plan to have local police act as federal immigration officers. WNYC's Bob Hennelly has more.

REPORTER: Morristown mayor Donald Cresitello says his plan is designed specifically to fight crime by fast-tracking the removal of undocumented residents with criminal records.

CRESITELLO: The fact is that there are 600,000 people among the 12 million people that have come into the country who are considered violent criminals.

REPORTER: The Morristown police say there has been a 150% increase in street crime but can not link that to the presence of undocumented residents.

Stuart Sydenstricker with a local pro-immigrant group says 4,000 of the town's 20,000 residents have signed petitions to oppose the mayor's plan. Sydenstricker says the mayor's plan will make law enforcement harder for police.

SYDENSTRICKER: So now anything that happens in town, people will not report to the police because they might check my immigration status, so I am not going to tell the police anything.

REPORTER: Mayor Cresitello says pending federal approval, Morristown officers would be able to make immigration arrests by this August.

For WNYC, I am Bob Hennelly.