Carroll County deputies to assist ICE agents in immigration crackdown
The Carroll County Sheriff's Office will start serving administrative warrants on inmates with a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) detainer, including those who have been arrested.
The warrants will allow the Carroll County deputies to hold a person for up to 48 hours until ICE agents take custody of them.
The sheriff's office says that 12 Central Booking staff members have been trained on how to receive and serve these warrants.
What is an immigration detainer?
According to ICE, an immigration detainer is a request from immigration officials that asks federal, state, or local law enforcement agencies, which include jails, prisons, or other confinement facilities, to "notify the requesting agency as early as possible before they release a removable alien."
The detainer will allow the sheriff's office to hold the undocumented migrant for up to 48 hours beyond the time the agency would ordinarily release them so that ICE can take them into custody.
What is an ICE administrative warrant?
Administrative removal warrants are used by ICE officers to arrest non-citizens who have committed immigration violations, according to ICE.
According to the website findlaw.com, administrative warrants, issued by ICE, "do not grant the legal right to enter a home without consent and are primarily used for arrests in public spaces or individuals already in custody."
ICE arrest caught on video
In April, a confrontation between a woman and U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents in Maryland was captured on video.
The video showed the moment that ICE agents smashed a car window and took 51-year-old Elsy Noemi Berrios into custody in Westminster.
In the video, Berrios can be heard speaking in Spanish to the agents as they stand just outside of her car.
She asks them to explain why she is being arrested and to provide a warrant.
One of the agents responded in Spanish that they didn't need to show an order.
After some inaudible back and forth, Berrios can be heard saying, "Pues, no me voy a viajar." She tells the officers that she won't get out of the car.
At that point, the agents break her car window and unlock the car before taking her into custody. The video was taken by Berrios' daughter, Karen Cruz Berrios.
"I would understand if they had a search warrant or anything for her, then okay, you guys can take her out, or give it to her, and she can step out. There was no need for them to do all of that," Cruz Berrios said.
In the video, Berrios is heard telling her daughter in Spanish not to worry, to relax, and that she is okay. Crus Berrios calls her mother strong, loving, and a great parent who has done everything she can to support her family.
