Montgomery County’s relativelywelcoming stance on illegal immigration may be attracting gangs that are causing problems for its stricter neighbor, said Frederick County Sheriff Chuck Jenkins.
“I believe that the policies of Montgomery County are beginning to affect Frederick County,” Jenkins said.
He pointed to two recent armed robberies in Frederick by Montgomery County members of the Latin Kings, a notoriously violent street gang that typically has illegal immigrants as members, as examples of what he said could be a growing problem.
In an August armed robbery of the Philly Cheesesteak Factory on Urbana Pike, one of the robbers hit a victim in the head with a hammer, police said. And a store owner was shot at after an armed robbery by some of the same suspects nine days later in Point of Rocks, according to news accounts.
The suspects then fled to Montgomery County, where three were caught soon after, police said. Criminal investigators later obtained indictments against four teenagers and a 20-year-old who police say were involved in one or both robberies.
Jenkins said he was concerned that the Montgomery County Police Department’s policies could be making the county an attractive base for violent gangs to commit crimes in neighboring Frederick.
The two counties have divergent policies on when law enforcement personnel contact U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents after arresting a suspect who may be in the country illegally.
Montgomery County allows its officers to contact ICE only if they arrest someone for violent or handgun-related crimes and not based on an “individual’s legal status and/or perceived gang affiliation.” No such limits exist for Frederick County sheriff’s deputies.
Montgomery County’s rank-and-file police officers are “disgusted” at what they perceive to be a politically motivated immigration policy that ties their hands as law enforcement officials, according to Walt Bader, past president of the Fraternal Order of Police union.
A report issued by Northern Virginia law enforcement officials last week said anecdotal evidence suggested that anti-gang policing measures in Virginia, including referring suspected illegal immigrants to ICE, had led to gangs fleeing to Maryland and the District, where immigration enforcement isn’t as strict.
But Montgomery County officials and immigrants rights groups argue that aggressive immigration tactics by local police departments lead to a loss of trust from immigrants, the vast majority of whom aren’t in gangs.
CASA of Maryland’s director of services, Kerry O’Brien, said Jenkins was trying to “stoke fear” about illegal immigrants. She said the examples of gang violence Jenkins cited were more an outgrowth of Frederick becoming more urban than because of Montgomery County’s immigration policies.
