Montgomery County police officials and Latino activists are hoping disagreements over police enforcement of federal immigration warrants do not influence the community’s trust of officers.
Last week, Police Chief J. Thomas Manger said he would not ignore federal civil immigration warrants; some immigrant-rights advocates would like county police to leave them to federal officials.
“We are not happy with the choice that Chief Manger has made,” said Mike Mage, co-chair of the Montgomery County chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union. “The police need to have the cooperation of the entire community in fighting crime. The safety of Montgomery County depends on it.”
CASA of Maryland Executive Director Gustavo Torres said the relationship between county Latinos and the police department has been excellent for the past 15 years and that the conflict over immigration warrants puts CASA in a “tough spot.”
“People are saying you always told us the police department were our friends, but look at what happened to our father, our brother and our friends,” Torres said. According to Torres, 65 immigrants were detained by county police in 2006, and 25 have been detained thus far in 2007.
Police department media liaison Blanca Kling said the police department has taken several steps to ensure all residents feel comfortable with police: It has established three separate community advisory boards, it draws on a language bank of volunteers who can assist with non-English-speaking residents, and they have two staffers in every victims’ assistance unit who can speak Spanish.
In addition, Kling said, the department has done public-service announcements to let people know crime victims will never be asked to disclose their immigration status.
“We have heard people are afraid to call the police, and we are telling them that — documented or undocumented — we don’t ask that of crime victims,” Kling said. “If they don’t call, it may be the clue we are missing to make an arrest.”
