Montgomery County government officials are requesting extra police presence for a County Council town hall meeting Wednesday night in Derwood, where hot topics such as illegal immigration, the county’s newest day labor center and the Intercounty Connector highway project will be discussed.
Montgomery County Council spokesman Neil Greenberger said the County Council always has some police presence at town hall meetings and is requesting “extra security” because it anticipates “larger crowds than usual” and discussion of “highly charged issues.”
“The [Intercounty Connector] goes right through this neighborhood, there is a chance they will start building it very soon, and people are emotionally charged about this issue,” Greenberger told The Examiner on Monday. “Also, the day labor center at Shady Grove is in this neighborhood and people on both sides of the issue care about it very deeply and are expected to show up.”
Kim Propeack, spokeswoman for the immigrant advocacy group CASA of Maryland, which operates the day labor centers, said day laborers planned to attending the meeting, but she did not know how many would be present.
“Obviously, day laborers live in the community, and they’ll be participating in the political process,” Propeack said.
Propeack said safety concerns were valid.
“I don’t think that fears about violence near the site of a firebombing are outrageous,” she added, referring to an act of arson in May at the day labor center that caused about $2,000 in damage. “Unfortunately, we have actors in the county that are willing to use violence to advance their anti-immigrant agenda, and I think the county is being reasonable in their precautions.”
Ken Aldrich, director of operations for the Maryland Minuteman Civil Defense Corps, said members of his organization also planned to attend the meeting because they wanted council members to hear their concerns about illegal immigration and day labor centers.
“I appreciate the police presence, but there is certainly no reason to be concerned about violence from our perspective,” Aldrich said. “All we do is observe and report, we don’t take any action.”
Alan Goldberg, Montgomery police commander for the sixth district, said county police officials usually send an officer or two to County Council town hall meetings but he was not “overly concerned.”
