Anne Arundel Co. Terminating 287(g) Immigration Program

Anne Arundel County Executive Steuart Pittman announced Thursday the termination of the 287(g) immigration program.

Pittman, Superintendent of Detention Facilities Terry Kokolis and Police Chief Timothy Altomare held a press conference Thursday morning to address how the county operates in cooperation with Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

In his inaugural address, Pittman first announced plans to issue a report on the program and then exit it. But after that address, ICE officials removed the equipment corrections officials used to work with ICE in the program.

After a review of statistics on the program that went into effect in the county last December, Pittman says it doesn't make the county safer. On Thursday, he said he didn't want county money to be spent on federal functions, and the county's participation had unintended consequences for police-community relations. He sent a letter to ICE officials declaring the county's withdrawal from the deal.

"There was a sense that there were people in county government who were working with ICE to implement a policy to round up working people," he said.

We're not becoming a sanctuary county/ We're simply going back to the way we were doing things before."

The county began processing inmates under the program in which local law enforcement agencies check the immigration status of people they've arrested in December 2017, The Associated Press reported.

Anne Arundel County is one of three Maryland counties that have detention center officers deputized and supervised by ICE to perform immigration enforcement functions pursuant to a memorandum of agreement authorized under section 287(g) of the Immigration Reform and Immigrant Responsibility Act of 1996.

The pact, signed in June by then-County Executive Steve Schuh, only went live in December of 2017. Under the program, detention staff screen people taken into custody for allegedly committing crimes to determine their immigration status. Pittman says staffers should focus on local law enforcement responsibilities, instead of "furthering controversial immigration policy."

Since then, 12 corrections officers were trained for four weeks by ICE officials while still being paid by the county. Since then, 193 foreign-born detainees were interviewed. Of them, 69 were found to have overstayed their visas or entered the country without authorization. However, Pittman stressed, the immigration checks only happened after someone was already arrested for a crime, and the criminal justice process is always allowed to run its course, including jail or prison sentences, before immigration authorities can take custody of the individual.

Only two other Maryland counties, Frederick and Harford, have similar contracts with ICE.

Police Chief Timothy Altomare said trust from immigrant communities is paramount.

"That trust starts in home countries, in countries of origin, where the police show up and people disappear in parts of the world and are never seen again," Altomare said. "Every community in this county deserves the best we can give them."

Anne Arundel County also operates a detention center for ICE detainees at its Ordnance Road Correctional Center pursuant to an Intergovernmental Service Agreement. Up to 130 men are held there as they await immigration hearings in Baltimore.

The county will maintain its participation in the ICE Criminal Alien Program. The same information detention centers already provide to federal databases will still be provided to ICE, but county authorities won't proactively give ICE information needed to file a detainer.

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The Associated Press contributed to this report.