Thread: MD: CASA Seeks to Compel Sheriff Jenkins to Give Deposition

CASA seeks to compel Sheriff Jenkins to appear at deposition

Originally published January 30, 2009
By Nicholas C. Stern
News-Post Staff

The state's largest immigrant advocacy group, CASA de Maryland, is asking the Montgomery County Circuit Court to compel Frederick County Sheriff Chuck Jenkins to give a deposition.

The request is the latest facet of a lawsuit brought against the sheriff's office by CASA on Nov. 25, 2008.

That suit requested the release of information related to the county's 287(g) program, which allows trained sheriff's office deputies and officers to enforce immigration laws.

In a legal memo filed in Montgomery County Circuit Court on Jan. 22, CASA attorney Justin Cox also asked the court to impose sanctions, including attorneys' fees, on Jenkins for not attending a Jan. 14 deposition.

Elissa D. Levan, the assistant attorney general representing the sheriff's office in the case, said she would be astonished if the court would sanction Jenkins or compel him to give a deposition without a subpoena.

"We'll see what the court has to say about it," she said.

In a telephone interview Wednesday, Jenkins said he had not received a copy of CASA's latest motion and had no comment about it.

On Dec. 29, Levan filed a motion to dismiss CASA's original complaint.

She said the Frederick County Sheriff's Office doesn't exist as an entity that can be sued in this case. The sheriff or the state can be sued, she said.

In a Jan. 9 reply to a notice for the Jan. 14 deposition, Levan stated that unless certain conditions were met, she would not produce Jenkins.

"The Sheriff is not a party to this action and therefore would need to be subpoenaed (just as you would with a third party witness) if you wish to compel him to attend a deposition," she said.

Cox said he thinks the Maryland Public Information Act does not require a subpoena in this case, and that barring a protective order for the sheriff, which was not filed, Jenkins' failure to appear at the deposition is sanctionable.

In a Jan. 20 legal memorandum, Cox stated "Nearly 10 months since Plaintiff's (CASA) first MPIA (Maryland Public Information Act) request, Defendant continues to seek to delay or avoid altogether transparency mandated by the MPIA."

"In so doing," he wrote, "Defendant has blatantly and unapologetically violated the rules of this Court."

Request denied

In requests since March, CASA has sought information about the training and certification of officers involved in the sheriff office's 287(g) program, which allows trained sheriff's deputies and officers to enforce federal immigration laws.

Cox said CASA has requested information about the 287(g) memorandum of agreement between U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement and the Frederick County Sheriff's Office.

Other information CASA requested includes arrest reports and traffic citations, which contain among other information details about an arrestee's race, he said.

Cox said CASA is concerned there is evidence of racial profiling by Frederick County deputies related to the 287(g) program.

Jenkins has said he thinks CASA's suit represents their attempt to derail the 287(g) program, and the sheriff's office does not engage in racial profiling.

He has said he released to CASA the records his office is allowed to provide. Some information must be authorized or released by ICE.

"The country is coming apart at the seams, and I'm wasting the taxpayers' time dealing with this," he said Wednesday. "It's absolutely outrageous."

Jenkins has said the quantity of records and information sought in an October CASA request is enormous, and would cost his office, and subsequently the county taxpayers, about $35,000 to process.

"If he was really concerned about the cost to the taxpayers, he would be far more cooperative in moving this case along as quickly as possible," Cox said.

http://www.fredericknewspost.com/sectio ... ryID=85823

See story about Sheriff Jenkins receiving a Certificate of Appreciation from ICE for the Frederick County 287 (g) program:
http://www.alipac.us/modules.php?name=F ... c&t=144752

Cox said CASA is concerned there is evidence of racial profiling by Frederick County deputies related to the 287(g) program.

Jenkins has said he thinks CASA's suit represents their attempt to derail the 287(g) program, and the sheriff's office does not engage in racial profiling.

Cox- there is no racial profiling going on. It just so happens that most illegal immigrants are Hispanic. It is a fact that cant be avoided.

The 287(g) program is one of the best law enforcement programs that has come along in a long time to determine the legal and illegal status of people.