Thread: Mayor excludes illegal immigrant resolution debate

Mayor excludes illegal immigrant resolution debate

By Carrie Ann Knauer, Times Staff Writer Thursday, December 06, 2007

TANEYTOWN - Heated words were exchanged between the Taneytown mayor and City Councilman Paul Chamberlain Jr. Wednesday night after the mayor did not include a resolution Chamberlain had submitted for the meeting's agenda.

At the start of the meeting, Chamberlain stated that he had submitted his resolution on declaring Taneytown as not being a sanctuary city for illegal aliens as an agenda item in advance of the deadline stated in the city charter. Chamberlain accused Mayor Jim McCarron of circumventing the law by purposely excluding the resolution.

At the end of the meeting, McCarron told Chamberlain that it is the mayor's discretion to make an agenda for council meetings.

"What I use in determining of what goes on the agenda is whether it benefits the citizens of Taneytown," McCarron said, and he did not want to put the resolution on the agenda unless other councilman supported it.

Chamberlain said that the city charter does not say that agenda items submitted by a councilman can be blocked from the agenda by the mayor, and that he would be investigating whether an ethics violation occurred.

After a quick poll of the rest of the council, McCarron said that the resolution would be included on the agenda for Monday's city council meeting.

Resident Marvin Flickinger asked Chief Bill Tyler what the city's current procedure is for handling illegal immigrants.

Tyler said that if someone is pulled over for a traffic violation and they are able to present a driver's license, even if it is from another country, protocol is to treat the driver as they would any other driver.

If a person commits a more serious crime, they are taken into central booking where their identity is further questioned, Tyler said, and the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement is called in to handle the case if the person is suspected to be an illegal immigrant.

"We have a plan in place," Tyler said. "The city can't deport anybody."

Chamberlain defended his resolution saying "This resolution has nothing to do with law enforcement."

The city council will meet at 7:30 p.m. Monday in City Hall and further discuss the resolution.

Reach staff writer Carrie Ann Knauer at 410-857-7874 or carrieknauer@carrollcountytimes.com.

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