Police Say Immigration Isn’t Their Business
Wed, 05/21/2008 - 15:27 — Judicial Watch Blog


Police departments throughout one state with a huge illegal immigrant population are uniting to reject immigration enforcement with the chief in one major county starring in commercials assuring those in the country illegally not to be afraid of police.

Local law enforcement agencies throughout Maryland say immigration policy isn’t their business and, with the exception of one county sheriff’s department, they refuse to cooperate with federal authorities regarding the matter. The Frederick County Sheriff’s Department is the state’s only local law enforcement agency to sign an agreement with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement to check the immigration status of arrestees.

The others refuse, saying that immigration is a federal matter. The police chief in the jurisdiction with the state’s largest immigrant population, Montgomery County, even appears in public service commercials with a Bolivian soccer player to inform the community of the department’s hands off immigration policy. In the advertisement, Chief J. Thomas Manger tells illegal immigrants: “Don’t be afraid to call the police.â€