Opposing groups probe immigration policies in Md.

Two organizations with opposing concerns about illegal-immigration enforcement are reviewing county policies across Maryland and laying the groundwork for potential lawsuits aimed at how local jurisdictions handle immigration issues.

Leaders of the American Civil Liberties Union of Maryland are seeking information from all 23 Maryland counties, plus the city of Baltimore, about immigration-related issues. They want the details of every publicly enacted ordinance or internal policy that directs police, social services agencies, real estate agents, landlords and local employers to classify or treat people differently due to immigration status.

“By interacting with other ACLU affiliates in other states, we have come across examples of counties having informal or unwritten procedures about proving citizenship and what to do with immigrants once they are detained,” said Ajmel Quereshi, a lawyer and ACLU fellow. “We wanted to see if this is happening in Maryland.”

Quereshi cited Anne Arundel County, Frederick County and Gaithersburg policies he considers “anti-immigration ordinances” that give the ACLU cause for concern.

Brad Botwin, founder of anti-illegal-immigration group Help Save Maryland, said his group is filing a “piggyback” request to be copied on all information given to the ACLU.

“We will track their every move on this so we can counter anything they may decide to do in the future,” Botwin said. “They are going after jurisdictions like Frederick County that have taken the important step of going after illegal aliens in their community. They say that’s racial profiling. I just don’t see it.”

Anne Arundel County Executive John Leopold forbids contractors to hire illegal immigrants to work on county projects, and police in Frederick County have been trained to enforce federal immigration laws. In Gaithersburg, City Council members passed an anti-solicitation ordinance two years ago that made looking for work or workers along city streets a misdemeanor, a move some complained targeted immigrant day laborers. Last spring, Maryland Attorney General Douglas Gansler said the rule ran afoul of the First Amendment and Maryland’s vehicle laws and city leaders began exploring other options.

Quereshi stopped short of saying that the ACLU would sue counties over their local immigration policies. “We want to get a sense of whether laws are being discriminatorily enforced against immigrants,” Quereshi said. “Once that is done, we’ll see if individual cases raise constitutional concerns.”