ICE, Montgomery County leaders to meet, discuss issues with detainers

Conversation will likely take place at the end of February, official said

February 8, 2024 8:32 p.m.

Montgomery County leaders will meet with U.S. Immigrations and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officials by the end of the month to discuss how local law enforcement can better partner with federal immigration officials, especially regarding detainers, according to the county’s Assistant Chief Administrative Officer Earl Stoddard.

Last week, ICE put out two press releases for separate instances where it said Montgomery County ignored immigration detainers.

In a Jan. 30 release, ICE said deportation officers arrested a Salvadoran MS-13 member, in Silver Spring on Jan. 29. In September 2023, the Montgomery County Circuit Court convicted the man of accessory after the fact for first-degree murder and sentenced him to 18 months in prison, according to the release.

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The Circuit Court “ignored” the immigration detainer lodged by ICE’s Baltimore field office, also known as Enforcement and Removal Operations (ERO) Baltimore, and released the man according to ICE. However, County Executive Marc Elrich’s spokesperson Scott Peterson said the county never received the detainer and didn’t know about the issue until last week.

“We did not receive a detainer from ICE regarding this individual and followed all processes of his release according to the law. Had there been a detainer on file, we would have notified ICE prior to his release per our policy,” Peterson said.

In a Feb. 2 press release, ICE said that its officers arrested another Salvadoran MS-13 member, on Jan. 10. From 2016-2018, the man was charged with assault in the first degree, weapons-related offenses, crimes related to making a false statement to a peace officer, obstruction, and in September 2022, he was convicted of possessing an unregistered firearm.

ICE said in the release that Montgomery County released the man and ignored immigration detainers three different times. Peterson declined to comment on this.

Because ICE would not provide either man’s name, MoCo360 was not able to perform a case search and verify details provided by ICE.

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Stoddard said that on Feb. 1, through the office of Sen. Chris Van Hollen (D), Montgomery County requested a meeting with ICE to “work through these issues and understand how we can collaborate with them within the bounds of the guidance that has been offered by the State AG’s office.”

According to Stoddard, ICE agreed to meet, offering times during the last week of this month, and the county is working to finalize the date, time and location of the meeting.

The guidance offered by the Maryland Attorney General’s Office that Stoddard references was released in December 2018. The primary idea repeated throughout: “Immigration detainers are requests only; local officers are not obligated to honor them.”

The Attorney General’s Office added that there can be harm in continuing to contain someone just because the county’s Department of Corrections received an immigration detainer.

If the detainer is not “accompanied by a judicial warrant or supported by information providing probable cause that the subject of the detainer has committed a crime,” then law enforcement officers face liability exposure, according to the Attorney General’s Office.

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“Local officials who hold someone solely on the basis of having received a detainer request risk civil liability, including monetary damages and attorneys fees,” the Attorney General’s Office wrote.

This is because under state law, “local officials may not hold someone beyond their State-law release date in the absence of a judicial warrant or probable cause that the subject has committed a crime,” the Attorney General’s Office wrote.

The Council on Foreign Relations, a nonpartisan American think tank, said that across the U.S., “the degree to which local officials are obliged to cooperate with federal authorities is a subject of intense debate.” The group said that as of 2019, almost one-quarter of U.S. counties limit their cooperation with ICE, according to the Immigrant Legal Resource Center.

Despite conflicts between county officials and ICE on detainers, Montgomery County has said on its website that it is not a sanctuary jurisdiction and collaborates with ICE by sharing its arrest and detention information with them.

“Local police and the Department of Correction and Rehabilitation work cooperatively with ICE in their work on immigration and customs violations and drug and human trafficking,” according to the county’s website. “The County’s arrest and detention information goes to the State and all State information is accessed by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) through their Secure Communities initiative.”

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