Montgomery County officials say they don’t keep tabs on the number of undocumented people they arrest, and can’t say how many cases are like that of one man who has been returned to the streets four times, providing different names and never giving police any form of identification.
A 25-year-old man who said he was from El Salvador was most recently arrested May 7, swept up in Gaithersburg’s crackdown on day laborers looking for work on private property, court documents say. Only a week before, the man, who gave his name as Henry Bianco, had been released from county jail following a monthlong stint for the same crime in Gaithersburg and providing police with a false name in March.
He was kept in jail because he wouldn’t give police identification at the time of his March arrest or after it, and was released when prosecutors declined to charge him, saying in court documents that his time had been served.
Department of Corrections Director Arthur Wallenstein, the state court system and the State’s Attorney’s Office all said they don’t keep track of how many people are arrested who don’t have identification.
It’s Montgomery County’s policy to not inquire about immigration status when someone is arrested. But had Bianco been stopped for a similar crime under Prince William’s more stringent policy of checking the immigration status of anyone arrested, or a similar policy in the works for Frederick County, he may have been deported if found to be an illegal immigrant.
And “there’s only one likely reason [Bianco] wouldn’t have identification,” said Gaithersburg City Council Vice President Henry Marraffa.
Montgomery officials have touted their more lenient approach as a method of keeping communication lines open between the growing illegal immigrant population and police who want to protect them from criminals.
But Marraffa said the policy harms both businesses that want their parking lots cleared of day laborers and the illegal immigrants who face repeated jail time.
“Everybody is frustrated. There’s no clear signal on what to do with people who don’t have documentation,” he said. “[Bianco] is paying a dear price for the limbo.”
A MAN OF MANY NAMES
December 2006, disorderly conduct: Henry Romero
April 2007, driving under the influence: Henry Romero Blanco
March and May 2008, trespassing: Henry Bianco
Source: Court documents
Estimated illegal immigrant population in the Capital Region:
2000: 300,000
2005: 500,000
Source: Pew Hispanic Center
