Mayor, Illegal Immigration Foe, Says Si to Spanish

MORRISTOWN, N.J. – A New Jersey mayor who drew national attention for wanting to crack down on illegal immigrants is learning to speak Spanish.

Morristown Mayor Donald Cresitello says he began taking classes last month at the County College of Morris.

According to Cresitello, he got an 85 on his first test. The course meets for 75 minutes, twice a week, through December.

"It's a little bit more difficult than I thought," Cresitello told the Daily Record of Parsippany for Friday newspapers.

The 61-year-old Cresitello joked to the newspaper that it was hard to "memorize all these new words."

Cresitello has been an outspoken opponent of illegal immigration. He's applied for a federal program that trains and deputizes officers as immigration agents.

After Cresitello spoke at an anti-illegal immigration rally over the summer, U.S. Attorney Chris Christie accused him of grandstanding on the issue.

Cresitello insists his anti-illegal immigration stance has nothing to do with prejudice against a particular group.