A resolution saying illegal immigrants would not be welcome in the tiny city sharply divided lawmakers and scores of Marylanders at a packed public hearing Wednesday night.
The resolution, proposed by Taneytown City Councilman Paul Chamberlain Jr., would make Taneytown the first city in Maryland to declare it is not a “sanctuary city,” where government limits how much it asks about immigration status.
The resolution, stating town officials and residents would do everything legally possible to keep illegal immigrants out, drew residents from far and near.
“It’s important for all of Maryland that this passes,” said Brad Botwin, a Montgomery County resident who drove more than hour to the hearing. “Please do the right thing: Help save Maryland.”
Rafael Zamora, a Hispanic who runs a landscaping business in Taneytown, recently moved there from Germantown.
He considered Taneytown a welcoming place to raise his family, but the resolution made him think again. “We?re not here to rob you,” he said.
Other critics said the resolution saddened and disgusted them and made Taneytown appear cruel and cold.
Gail Wilson recalled the Ku Klux Klan members who lived five doors from her about 20 years ago. They would stand outside, pass out literature and try to recruit people.
“It?s going to label Taneytownas a hostile place to live,” she said of the resolution, drawing jeers from some who told her, “Go home.”
At one point a police officer had to intervene in an argument among four people, and Mayor Jim McCarron said people who interrupted speakers would be thrown out.
McCarron has been outspoken in opposing the resolution, saying the federal government should make immigration law.
“It?s illegal to be here in Taneytown or anywhere else in the U.S. if you don?t have the proper documentation,” he said. “Lawbreakers will be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law.”
McCarron and Chamberlain clashed throughout the night.
The mayor tried several times to limit the hearing to a half hour because a full council meeting followed.
But Chamberlain retorted that it would be unpatriotic to deny people the right to speak.
“If we?re not going to give people a chance to speak,” Chamberlain said, “that is not the American way.”
TANEYTOWN RESOLUTION
“The mayor and city council of the City of Taneytown believe that being a ‘sanctuary city’ for illegal aliens would demean and harm civic life. All officials and personnel of the city are directed to assist residents of the city to support the enforcement of our nation’s immigration and national laws.”
