A dermatologist who is married to the mayor of East Brunswick, N.J., was injured on Wednesday during a crash that happened as federal immigration agents were chasing another driver on a busy four-lane highway, several local officials said.
The driver of the vehicle that was being pursued by federal agents had fled after being stopped, according to Francis Womack III, the mayor of North Brunswick, where the crash occurred. Agents had smashed a window of the car they were pursuing, he said, and the driver fled onto Route 130 at about 7:30 a.m.
Dr. Penelope Cohen, who is married to Brad Cohen, the mayor of East Brunswick, a neighboring township, was injured in the crash and was treated at a nearby hospital for injuries that were not life-threatening, according to Mr. Womack and hospital officials.
Officials with the Department of Homeland Security and Immigration and Customs Enforcement did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the episode. The driver of the car was taken into custody by federal officials and was also being treated at a hospital, according to the North Brunswick Police Department.
ICE arrests have surged in New Jersey since the spring, after agents began fanning out under orders to detain 2,000 immigrants nationwide a day.
In July, ICE detained more than 2,100 people in New Jersey — more than double the roughly 850 to 950 people that the agency was arresting monthly in the state from February to May, according to the Deportation Data Project, an academic group.
Seth Kaper-Dale, a pastor at the Reformed Church of Highland Park, which runs programs that support immigrants, described the increased pace of detentions as “just brutal.”
The Department of Homeland Security had previously said in a statement, “Our message is clear: If you come to our country illegally, we will find you, we will arrest you and we will deport you.”
North Brunswick police officials said in a statement said that the driver of the car that federal officials pursued had run a red light and then “collided with another vehicle.”
“Following the collision, the driver exited the vehicle and fled on foot,” but was quickly apprehended, the statement said. North Brunswick police officers were not involved in the ICE stop or the chase, the statement noted.
Mr. Cohen, who accompanied his wife to the hospital, said that he was unable to immediately comment. His wife was also unavailable for comment.
Route 130, a major road that extends 80 miles south of North Brunswick, was closed for more than an hour in both directions as the authorities investigated the crash. The closure, Mr. Womack said, led to widespread commuter delays and caused havoc on the second day of school for township students.
He had no details about the person taken into custody and said that he supported federal efforts to apprehend the “worst of the worst.”
But Mr. Womack, a Democrat, said that he was troubled by the immigration agency’s current tactics, which have involved the targeting of ethnic neighborhoods.
“I’m very concerned,” he said, “about the way things are being pursued.”
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