Thread: Attitudes Shift on Illegal Residents

Attitudes Shift on Illegal Residents
Some Link Crime In Montgomery To Immigration

By Dan Morse and Ann E. Marimow
Washington Post Staff Writers
Sunday, January 11, 2009; A01

For years, mainstream Montgomery County has been generally accepting of illegal immigrants, and county leaders followed suit, pledging not to enforce immigration laws even as police agencies elsewhere in the region began to do so.

But public sentiment appears to be shifting in Montgomery, driven less by ideology than by alarm over rising crime and the recent slayings of a 14-year-old honor student on a county transit bus and a 63-year-old woman in her Bethesda home.

"People who are very, very tolerant want to see some changes," said County Council member Marc Elrich (D-At Large), one of five council members who said in interviews that public opinion has shifted in recent months.

Elrich said crime has "really hit home" even in his neighborhood of Takoma Park, a city that since 1985 has officially refused to identify or report undocumented immigrants.

Mariana Cordier, who grew up in the county and is a past president of the Maryland Hispanic Bar Association, said residents are increasingly linking crime to illegal immigration.

"It's been slow to come to Montgomery County," she said of that perception, "but it has arrived."

Police Chief J. Thomas Manger is developing a proposal to have county police officers check the immigration status of suspects arrested for violent crimes and weapons offenses.

"I wouldn't have gone for it a year ago," Bethesda resident Judy Campbell said recently, leaving a natural food co-op in Takoma Park with soy milk and a slice of vegan double-chocolate fudge cake. "Until this series of violent crimes, it wasn't on my radar screen."

Campbell, a 50-year-old nurse, is an avowed liberal. She thinks illegal immigrants deserve publicly funded health care. She once voted for Dennis Kucinich. And for the upcoming inauguration, she plans to participate in Chant4Change, an event that bills itself as a gathering for "conscious revolutionaries."

But she supports the chief's efforts, in part because the emerging proposal is not as far-reaching as policies that have been enacted in Prince William and Frederick counties.

Some officials, including County Executive Isiah Leggett (D), say they have detected no major shift in public sentiment. Leggett, who in the past has said Montgomery should not be in the business of enforcing immigration laws, would have to approve the proposal before it could take effect.

Opponents hope to persuade him to reject the idea, which they say would result in racial or ethnic profiling that could ensnare innocent people. State Del. Ana Sol Gutierrez (D-Montgomery) and other opponents said residents would reject the proposal if they understood its consequences more fully.

The proposal is a departure from past practice for a police agency that has cultivated relations with immigrant communities. The department has long taken the position that delving into immigration matters could jeopardize cooperation from crime victims and witnesses, undermining public safety.

Manger, who is crafting the proposal with his senior staff, declined to comment. Assistant Chief Wayne M. Jerman said recently that "all public officials" have been hearing from residents that the county needs to be more aggressive on the issue.

Until recently, concern in Montgomery over illegal immigration focused chiefly on opposition to a county plan to open a day-laborer center in Gaithersburg.

But when illegal immigrants were charged in the two killings, one of which police linked to a series of home invasions, the issue found a wider audience, said Rene Sandler, a Rockville defense attorney.

"You're talking about the fear that crime evokes," she said.

Serious crime is up 7.7 percent in Montgomery, a trend driven by increases in home and car break-ins across the county. Police acknowledge that they do not know how much of that increase, if any, is attributable to illegal immigrants.

As of a week ago, eight of 16 people held in the county jail on murder charges had immigration detainers placed on them, meaning federal authorities might move to deport them after their criminal cases have run their course. Such suspects are not necessarily in the country illegally.

Police officials, however, have said two of the suspects -- alleged gang members accused in the Nov. 1 shooting death of 14-year-old Tai Lam -- are illegal immigrants whose status went undetected during previous arrests in the county.

"People in the mainstream are saying, 'Wow, we could have had this person and we didn't. What could have been done differently?' " said council member Michael Knapp (D-Upcounty).

Under a current version, Manger's proposal would apply when a suspect is arrested for certain crimes, such as murder, armed robbery, kidnapping, first-degree child abuse, rape or weapons offenses. If the arresting officer thought the suspect was in the country unlawfully, the officer could inquire about immigration status and, depending on the response, refer the matter to federal immigration officials.

Leggett, who plans to make a decision on the proposal as soon as the end of the month, said he wants to use all reasonable tools to get criminals off the street but is concerned about the potential for profiling. "You don't want to punish or stereotype people in a way that is unfair and illegal," he said.

His aides are scheduled to meet tomorrow with a half-dozen immigration and Latino advocates, including Cordier and Gutierrez.

As a practical matter, Gutierrez said, officers could not determine which suspects to question without engaging in profiling. She said officers would also need to become familiar with the complex terrain of immigration matters, including more than 100 types of visas.

"The devil is in the details," said Gutierrez, who said she has not detected any shift in mainstream public opinion about the role county police should have in immigration matters.

Police officials have not said how officers would determine whom to press on the question of status, or what kind of training they would need to carry out the policy effectively.

Chuck Short, an aide to Leggett, said some officials think that failure to address the concerns over illegal immigration now could lead to pressure later for more aggressive policies, such as cutting social services for illegal immigrants.

Already, an activist group that supports such measures, Help Save Maryland, has secured a meeting for Friday with Leggett's aides -- a gathering that would have been unheard of several months ago, said Brad Botwin, the group's director.

"It would never have happened, in no way, shape or form," said Botwin, a county resident.

Currently, when Montgomery officers detain a suspect, they run a routine check for outstanding warrants. If the check turns up a warrant from immigration officials, federal authorities are notified.

Some jurisdictions are far more aggressive. Prince William drew national attention in 2007 by proposing that officers check the immigration status of those detained, even for such minor infractions as speeding, if they thought the detainees might be in the country illegally. The county backed off that approach but requires that officers ask about the status of everyone they place under arrest.

In Frederick, as part of a partnership with federal immigration authorities, all people booked into the county jail are questioned about their citizenship. The answers can trigger more questions and a call to federal agents.

Officers in Prince George's County, by contrast, take a less aggressive approach than Montgomery. They are governed by a 2003 County Council resolution directing them to refrain from enforcing immigration laws.

In downtown Silver Spring, where the slain honor student spent time with friends, Christmas cards, personal notes and a laminated bus transfer are assembled in a weathered memorial that commemorates his life.

Stan Wolk, a lawyer whose office is nearby, called Lam's death senseless and tragic. Wolk said his liberal instincts compel him to support amnesty and a path to citizenship for illegal immigrants who work hard to provide for their families.

But when it comes to suspects arrested for violent crimes and weapons offenses, Wolk said he supports checking immigration status, as do many of his acquaintances. "A lot my friends would say if they're illegal, put them away," he said.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/co ... 49_pf.html

It is terribly unfortunate that these liberals start to understand reality only after so many people are murdered, raped, robbed, and severely injured.

They live in dream worlds and only in the face of the most stark realities of true human loss and suffering right in front of them, do they begin to understand.

While it is a shame it takes so much blood for them to come around, at least they are starting to awaken.

I wonder if they realize that they share some responsibility for these terrible crimes because they supported policies that facilitated the crimes?

W

They never react until it hits home.

As a practical matter, Gutierrez said, officers could not determine which suspects to question without engaging in profiling
Very Simple....you question EVERYONE...the ones who are legal...have nothing to fear....