Governor Wes Moore expresses concern about major ICE operation in Maryland

Maryland Governor Wes Moore expressed concern Tuesday about the methods used in a major federal immigration enforcement operation that took place earlier this month in areas across Maryland and Virginia. 

Moore's office claimed in a statement that officials of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) "announced mass deportation operations in Maryland without notifying state officials."

In a news release issued on Monday, the DHS announced that "an enhanced immigration operation by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE)." The operation took place throughout the states of Virginia and Maryland and resulted in the arrests of 1,328 illegal alien offenders between August 1 and August 14, the release said.    

Moore began his statement by saying that "Marylanders know I have neither patience nor tolerance for violent criminals. When federal law enforcement takes violent offenders off our streets and lawfully removes them from our country, that makes our communities safer. Maryland will continue working with our federal partners to do exactly that."

But, he then added that according to ICE's own numbers, "a mere fraction of the more than 1,300 people they arrested in the past two weeks had ever been convicted of or charged with any crimes. We've seen frightening footage of older women being taken from their apartment buildings, workers chased in residential neighborhoods, parents separated from American children - and we are deeply concerned by reports that an individual suffered a broken neck during an ICE arrest."

Nearly 400 individuals conviced or charged with crimes

The DHS statement said the recent enforcement activity that took place across Maryland and Virginia was called "Operation Safe Community – Washington, D.C." The two-week operation "netted illegal alien offenders with criminal histories that include convictions for sexual battery, kidnapping, driving while intoxicated, hit-and-run, identity theft, and robbery, and arrests for murder, attempted murder and rape."

The DHS statement said of the 1,328 individuals arrested in the two states, "almost 400 have either been convicted or charged with crimes in the United States."  The statement included specific examples of people arrested.    

DHS Secretary Markwayne Mullin said, "The brave men and women of ICE are hard at work every single day getting these dangerous illegal aliens out of our country. Over the course of just two weeks in Virginia and Maryland, they arrested sexual assailants, kidnappers, drunk drivers, robbers, and gang members" He added, "While sanctuary politicians in Virginia and Maryland keep putting the needs of illegal aliens over the safety of the American people, the Trump Administration will always put American citizens first. By arresting and removing illegal aliens from our communities, we will make America safe again."  

Gov. Moore said he was concerned about the way the DHS conducted the immigration enforcement operation. "Deploying untrained, unqualified, and unaccountable agents to sweep through our communities and spread fear is not a public safety strategy," he said. "It undermines trust between law enforcement and the people they serve, and it does not make us safer."

Moore claims economic harms

Moore added that the actions had also undermined the state's economy. "I've heard firsthand from business leaders across the State that these immigration policies are taking legal workers out of our nursing homes, scaring farmworkers from showing up to work, and making the cost of everything from groceries to delivery services higher."

Moore said, "We do not have to choose between holding violent offenders accountable and protecting the constitutional rights and basic dignity of our neighbors. In Maryland, we will continue to do both."

The immigration advocacy group We Are CASA issued its own statement on the recent DHS operation in Maryland and Virginia. 

The group's chief of services, Ama Frimpong, said, "ICE spends over 1.7 million additional hours tearing apart local families under the guise of 'safety.' But when ICE admits that 70% of the people they arrested have no criminal legal system contact, it strips away their cover. It proves that these operations are not targeted, high-level busts designed to keep our community safe."

"Rather, ICE is sweeping up everyday parents, spouses, and neighbors who are just going to work and providing for their families," Frimpong added. "We Are CASA receives these reports of families being torn apart every day: the one-year-old whose father was abducted on his way to work as a construction worker, or the seven-year-old with a chronic health condition whose mother was abducted right outside her home."