The Montgomery County Department of Correction & Rehabilitation (DOCR) inadvertently failed to process a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) detainer request for an individual with a previous felony conviction and known gang affiliation, DOCR director Ben Stevenson said in a statement Tuesday evening.
“After reviewing the circumstances of this case, we have determined that there was an error on our end regarding the receipt and processing of this ICE detainer request,” Stevenson wrote.
Following the incident, the county has taken action to revise its procedures to ensure that this does not happen again, officials said.
ICE issued a press release May 15 announcing the May 12 arrest of 26-year-old Nelson Vladimir Amaya-Benitez of Gaithersburg by ICE. According to ICE, Amaya-Benitez is an undocumented immigrant from El Salvador and a member of the Mara Salvatrucha gang, more commonly known as MS-13. He has been convicted of second-degree malicious burning, rogue and vagabond, and possession of marijuana, according to ICE. Rogue and vagabond charges refer to breaking and entering a motor vehicle and stealing from it, under Maryland law.
“This individual, who had previously been removed from the United States, reentered illegally and repeatedly jeopardized the safety of our Maryland communities,” ICE Baltimore acting Field Office Director Nikita Baker said in the press release. “ICE lodged five detainers — none of which were honored — allowing him to return to the streets and reoffend time and time again. This pattern is unacceptable.”
County officials said the error was inadvertent and, based on county policy and federal executive orders, DOCR should have notified ICE prior to Amaya-Benitez’s release. Attorney information for Amaya-Benitez was not available in Maryland court records Wednesday afternoon.
“This individual met the criteria we use to notify and coordinate with ICE due to a prior felony conviction and validated gang membership in the DOCR records,” Stevenson wrote. “We failed to make this notification. We take full responsibility for this error.”
During a virtual media briefing Wednesday, County Executive Marc Elrich (D) said the county’s error was clerical and did not have anything to do with policy.
“We got a request for the detainer that came in through a fax and because of a mistake, not because of policy, that fax did not wind up where it should have gone, which is to the department that released the person,” Elrich said. “[Amaya-Benitez’s criminal record sheet sent to the county] did not include offenses that actually had occurred … things were not handled properly.”
According to the county’s public information office, the county’s policy is to “not to inquire about anyone’s immigration status, nor does the county conduct any immigration enforcement or investigations.”
However, county policy requires the police department and DOCR to cooperate with ICE officials in their work on immigration and customs violations and drug and human trafficking. The county’s arrest and detention information goes to the state and can be accessed by ICE.
According to ICE, Amaya-Benitez illegally entered the United States near Hidalgo, Texas, in February 2016 and was apprehended by U.S. Border Patrol. Between 2016 and 2018 in Texas, he was charged and convicted of marijuana possession, unauthorized use of a vehicle and evading arrest.
Amaya-Benitez’s first run-in with the law in Montgomery County was when he was arrested and charged with armed robbery on May 26, 2017. According to ICE, an immigration detainer on Amaya-Benitez was lodged with the Montgomery County Detention Center the following day. June 29, 2017, he was convicted of robbery in Montgomery County Circuit Court in Rockville and later sentenced 10 years in prison with all but 18 months suspended.
A U.S. Department of Justice immigration judge ordered Amaya-Benitez to be removed from the country in August 2019, and he was deported by ICE to El Salvador later that month. Amaya-Benitez illegally re-entered the U.S. on an unknown date at an unknown location “without being inspected, admitted or paroled by an immigration officer,” according to ICE.
In August 2022, ICE lodged an immigration detainer for Amaya-Benitez with the Montgomery County Detention Center, following an arrest by Montgomery County police. It is unclear based on ICE’s statement and lack of available court documents as to what this arrest was for ICE alleges that the county “declined to honor ICE’s immigration detainer” and released Amaya-Benitez from custody.
On Feb. 8, 2023, county police arrested and charged Amaya-Benitez with theft. He was convicted in July 2023 and sentenced to two months and 29 days of confinement, but his sentence was suspended.
County police arrested Amaya-Benitez again in May 2023 and charged him with motor vehicle theft and rogue and vagabond. The term refers to breaking and entering a motor vehicle and stealing from it, under Maryland law. He was convicted on those charges in Montgomery County District Court in August 2023. He was sentenced to five years in prison with all but 18 months suspended. According to ICE, an immigration detainer was filed with the county against Amaya-Benitez on the same date of the sentencing. ICE alleges that the county’s detention center declined to honor ICE’s immigration detainer and released Amaya-Benitez from custody.
County police also arrested and charged Amaya with second-degree malicious burning in May 2023. He was convicted of the charges in August 2023 and sentenced to 18 months of confinement. ICE alleges that an immigration detention retainer was once again denied. In September 2024, Amaya-Benitez was once again arrested by county police and charged with attempted motor vehicle theft. According to ICE, an immigration detainer request was filed again.
On April 4, Amaya was convicted of attempted motor vehicle theft in Montgomery County Circuit Court and sentenced to three years in prison with two years, five months and 11 days suspended. ICE alleges that on April 18, the Montgomery County Detention Center again declined to honor ICE’s immigration detainer and released Amaya-Benitez from custody.
Amaya-Benitez has been ICE custody since his May 12 arrest.
Stevenson said in the press release that after failing to notify ICE of Amaya-Benitez’s release, DOCR and the County Executive’s Office “conducted a thorough internal review and identified corrective actions,” which include streamlined notification processes, new oversight measures and recording processes.
“We believe these steps will address future miscommunications and expedite the effective receipt, processing, tracking and review of ICE detainer requests to our correctional facility,” Stevenson wrote.
County officials also met with ICE Enforcement & Removal Operations Baltimore leadership to discuss changes and further actions.
“We actually asked for their assistance in doing so, by having all the requests be routed to a single mechanism so that we have greater transparency on our end about when ICE requests are coming in,” Earl Stoddard, the county’s assistant chief administrative officer, said during Tuesday’s press briefing. “[This will] also ensure that there’s multiple eyes on this, as opposed to a single individual making a mistake that leads to the non-cooperation that we saw in this particular instance.”
Elrich has maintained since President Donald Trump’s 2024 election that the administration’s mass deportation orders are a “federal problem” and not something that county officials or police would be involved in. However, he has also continually pushed back on assertions that Montgomery County is a so-called “sanctuary county” for immigrants.
During his briefing Wednesday, Elrich said ICE should “understand mistakes, because I recently recall they made a few mistakes.”
Elrich appeared to be alluding to the mistaken deportation in April by ICE of Kilmar Abrego Garcia of Prince George’s County to El Salvador. Abrego Garcia has not been released from Centro de Confinamiento del Terrorismo (CECOT), a notorious maximum security gang prison where he is being held, despite efforts from lawmakers including U.S. Sen. Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.) of Kensington and the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision requiring the Trump administration to facilitate his return.
“Montgomery County has stated consistently that we cooperate with ICE in cases involving individuals convicted of violent crimes, verified gang members, drug distributors & traffickers and other felony convictions,” Stevenson wrote in the press release. “That policy remains in place. We remain committed to balancing community trust with all our residents and promoting public safety.”
