If you get a chance, register and log in so you can leave a comment. Maryland is a magnet for illegal aliens, and one County Executive is trying to make a difference in order to protect legal citizens. What a shame that now our jails check immigration status, many are crying "foul" saying it will prevent illegals from reporting crimes. What a crock of you-know-what.

County gets more illegal immigrants deported
Critics say program breeds mistrust of police officers
By SCOTT DAUGHERTY, Staff Writer
Published 07/19/09

A county policy instituted in 2008 to quickly refer foreign-born inmates to federal authorities is putting three to four times more undocumented immigrants on the path to deportation than before, according to county statistics.

Officials with Immigration and Customs Enforcement expressed interest in 170 inmates in just the first six months of 2009 - almost twice as many as the 87 inmates who were detained in all of 2007.

"Illegal means illegal," said County Executive John R. Leopold, who ordered jail staff in March 2008 to begin reporting foreign-born inmates to ICE within an hour of their arrest, rather than once a week in a large group. "I think most people would agree illegal immigrants who commit crimes ... shouldn't be in this country."

Most of the inmates referred to immigration officials - about 62 percent - were arrested on traffic charges, but some violent criminals and two sex offenders also have been deported, according to jail staff.

Advocates for the immigrant community argue Leopold's policy could encourage racial profiling among police, and might make legal and illegal immigrants distrust officers.

"It raises a lot of red flags for us," said Justin Cox, a staff attorney with CASA de Maryland, a Silver Spring-based immigrant advocacy group. He argued battered spouses and witnesses to other violent crimes won't call 911 for fear they or their loved ones would be deported, meaning more violent criminals could escape prosecution.

"When immigrants know their immigration status will be questioned, they are going to stop reporting crimes," he said.

Leopold dismissed those concerns.

"I don't think individuals should be deterred from reporting crimes," he said.

Not foolproof

Despite the new reporting policy, at least one suspected illegal immigrant slipped through the cracks last year and was released.

Luis Lopez, a 30-year-old Mexican national living in Riverdale, was convicted in November 2007 of auto manslaughter in the death of a friend. He was sentenced to 18 months at the Ordnance Road Correctional Center in Glen Burnie, but released last September after a paperwork snafu.

County and federal officials blame one another for the release of Lopez, who is back in the county's custody after another arrest on traffic charges. He is now facing deportation.

Jail officials claimed last week they notified ICE about Lopez two times before letting him out, but authorities at ICE claimed no one contacted them about him until March 2009 - after his second arrest. While county officials have a form they say was faxed to ICE's Baltimore field office in March 2008, Gillian M. Brigham, a spokeswoman for the federal agency, maintained Thursday they never received it.

"ICE does not have any records that indicate we were contacted," she said.

Regardless, each side commended the other when asked about the referral policy. "ICE and Anne Arundel County have a great working relationship and continue to improve communication so that criminal aliens in Anne Arundel County detention facilities are identified and referred to ICE," Brigham said.

Leopold, an outspoken foe of illegal immigration, seconded that. He noted how many more so-called "detainers," or requests to hold onto an inmate, ICE has been filing at the county jails.

"This is just a reflection of the better cooperation with ICE," he said, stressing he believes Lopez is the exception, not the rule.

Neither the county nor ICE, however, can prove the jail didn't release more illegal immigrants. The county claims it faxed information on 959 inmates - including Lopez - to ICE in 2008, but ICE does not track by county how many referrals it receives. The county only knows that ICE responded by filing 234 detainers that year.

"Can we guarantee that every single fax got through? No," said David Abrams, a county spokesman. "But the fact is the numbers show more detainers. The data show gains."



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