Montgomery County, Maryland, elected officials are putting out information designed to calm rattled residents in the days after the Trump administration shifted policies for Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) — now allowing for enforcement action at schools and churches.
“I, personally, have gotten calls from people, and I’ve also been tagged in social media posts and so on, who are saying things like, ‘We’re seeing ICE is here. They’re doing a raid,'” Montgomery County Council member Kristin Mink told º£½Ç¾«Æ·ºÚÁÏ.
Instead, Mink said in a bulletin, she was able to find out that what some residents reported as raids were in fact “targeted arrests of individuals charged with crimes” by ICE.
Mink, who serves on the council’s public safety committee, said the jump in calls and emails about ICE in the community illustrates how residents have been left rattled and confused about the Trump administration’s changes to immigration enforcement.
In the first week after President Donald Trump was sworn in, the policy barring ICE and Customs and Border Protection agents from targeting schools and churches was reversed.
How to recognize ICE agents
Mink said it appeared that residents had spotted Montgomery County police, but mistook the officers for ICE agents.
In the bulletin, Mink posted a photograph showing the different uniforms worn by ICE agents compared to Montgomery County police.
“Our local police are not going to ask about their immigration status,” and that local police do not carry out federal enforcement, Mink said.
Mink pointed out that Maryland’s Attorney General Anthony Brown joined with the attorneys general of 10 other states in issuing a statement that read, in part: “It is well-established — through long-standing Supreme Court precedent — that the U.S. Constitution prevents the federal government from commandeering states to enforce federal laws.”
Montgomery County Council President Kate Stewart told reporters in a briefing Monday morning that it was important to make sure that residents — especially those in the immigrant community — understood that while ICE enforcement goes on, Montgomery County police do not perform that function.
“We need to continue to build trust in our community to prevent and to solve crime,” Stewart said. “If we are unable to do that, then we are not able to talk to our community,” to find out more information when crime does occur.
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