Thread: The ICEman Cometh

Montgomery County is no longer a haven for immigrants and their advocates.
By Christine MacDonald
Posted: February 18, 2009

By many accounts, Lila Meizell was a nice lady who died a horrific death. The 83-year-old Wheaton resident was beaten and then burned alive in her home last year, a casualty of an alleged check-cashing scheme that went bad.

Despite the lurid headlines and public consternation, her murder might have been quickly forgotten, stored away in memory like so many other grisly crimes. But the three people in custody are all Salvadoran immigrants, including a man who had done yardwork for Meizell. So her death has become a new front in the political battle over illegal immigrants in Montgomery County.

Until Meizell’s murder and a series of other area homicides police say were committed by Hispanic immigrants, Montgomery County officials had clung to a sort of don’t-ask-don’t-tell policy when dealing with foreign-born residents; they left immigration enforcement to the feds.

All that changed last week, when the Montgomery County Police Department joined a growing number of law enforcement agencies in the D.C. metropolitan area that have stepped up scrutiny of immigrants. These days if you get arrested for handgun possession or a violent crime in Montgomery County, police will forward your name to federal Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents to find out if you are deportable.

The policy reversal is a blow to CASA of Maryland, one of the most influential immigrant advocacy organizations in the country. CASA Executive Director Gustavo Torres and other immigrant allies vigorously lobbied county officials against wading into immigration issues, warning that such a move could violate the Constitution and set police on a slippery slope toward racial profiling. They also raised the specter of civil rights lawsuits like the one CASA and the American Civil Liberties Union initiated against the Frederick County Sheriff’s Department.

But with the economy tanking and crime and anti-immigrant sentiment on the rise, Montgomery County Executive Isiah “Ikeâ€

related story http://www.alipac.us/ftopic-139351-0.html

it's LONG past time to clean house.... LONG past time

Every time an illegal criminal is arrested it's suddenly racial profiling. Oh, please.

Federal immigration officials say the 287(g) program is one of its top partnership initiatives. But it has been mired in controversy and has failed to attract much support from police agencies around the country.

Since the Bush Administration first started deputizing local law enforcers following the 9/11 attacks, federal officials have signed up only 63 police agencies nationwide—including nine in Virginia.

Great example of SPIN...fact is there has been a waiting list and not many even knew of the program until about a year ago. If any dept. could just simply sign up, then there would be thousands!

Originally Posted by ReggieMay

Every time an illegal criminal is arrested it's suddenly racial profiling. Oh, please.

Yep...but what did what's-his-name say? If you call a White man (or Black, I would imagine) in America a racist, his knees begin to knock. That was exactly how I reacted the first time I was called a racist over my views against illegal aliens. And it worked...temporarily. But then, after some serious soul searching, I realized that I knew myself for what I was (and wasn't) and I just jumped right back into the fray and I haven't quit since then!

Originally Posted by PatrioticMe

CASA’s workers’ centers—where laborers, regardless of their immigration status, can come seeking jobs—have been hailed as a national model. The success of the centers earned Torres a trip to China last fall, courtesy of the Ford Foundation, to advise nonprofit groups there about how to organize the country’s estimated 200 million itinerant workers.

The Ford Foundation also lobbied to have the Matricula Consular card recognized as an official immigrant document even though the Mexican government considers it to be a fraud.

Originally Posted by millere

Originally Posted by PatrioticMe

CASA’s workers’ centers—where laborers, regardless of their immigration status, can come seeking jobs—have been hailed as a national model. The success of the centers earned Torres a trip to China last fall, courtesy of the Ford Foundation, to advise nonprofit groups there about how to organize the country’s estimated 200 million itinerant workers.

The Ford Foundation also lobbied to have the Matricula Consular card recognized as an official immigrant document even though the Mexican government considers it to be a fraud.

Yeah, think about that next time you go car shopping. Call Ford and let them know you'll be buying a Chevy...and why. (Well, not just you! lol All of us.)

Judith Freidenberg, an anthropologist at the University of Maryland’s College Park campus who has worked with immigrants in Prince George’s County, says the new rules may make people reluctant to cross into Montgomery for work, medical treatment, and social services that they have come to rely on.

It doesn't take a college professor to figure it out...Montgomery County DOESN'T want them!DUH

The success of the centers earned Torres a trip to China last fall, courtesy of the Ford Foundation