Casa trains Hispanics how to interact with police

Part of ongoing effort against the Sheriff’s Office’s participation in program that helps deport illegal immigrants

Sign nothing without an attorney.

Demand to see warrants before opening doors.

Above all, do not give police false documents, and never lie to them.

That’s the message Hispanics received from senior officials of Casa de Maryland in Frederick on Saturday.

The Silver Spring-based organization, whose ‘‘primary mission is to work with the community to improve the quality of life and fight for equal treatment and full access to resources and opportunities for low-income Latinos and their families,” according to its Web site, came to Frederick to continue its campaign against a four-month-old deportation program.

Frederick County Sheriff Chuck Jenkins on Feb. 6 signed an agreement with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) to enable 26 of his officers to check the immigration status of people arrested at county jail through a program known as 287G.

Ten patrol deputies and 16 deputies in the Frederick County Adult Detention Center — the first destination for anyone arrested in Frederick County — have been able since mid-April to nudge illegal immigrants on a path that leads out of the country.

ICE claims on its Web site that more than 50,000 illegal immigrants nationwide have been identified since fiscal 2006 through the 287G program, which has 47 partners — mostly in the South, Southwest and West — and more than 90 pending applications.

Founded in 1985, Casa de Maryland runs four centers in Montgomery County and one in Baltimore. The organization has since February opposed Frederick County’s participation in the 287G program.

Kerry O’Brien, senior manager of Casa de Maryland’s legal program, Kim Propeack, director of community organizing and political action, and Hector Pop Chun, a campaign organizer, managed the Saturday workshop at Maranatha Community Church.

The workshop was designed to train Hispanics how to deal with police and to recruit volunteers to monitor the 287G program.

The Rev. Milly Rivera, a pastor at Trinity United Methodist Church on Frederick’s West Patrick Street, and the Rev. Isaac Gonzalez of Maranatha Community Church’s both conduct mass in Spanish.

‘‘We have people that have fears,” said Rivera, who said Casa de Maryland invited her to attend. ‘‘Some of them, they don’t know [their rights]; that’s the problem. That’s the reason I talk to people to come here.”

She said some of her congregants have family members who have been deported, though not necessarily as a result of the Sheriff’s Office’s participation in the program.

The Gazette was allowed to stay for the opening group session, but not a small-group workshop session or a volunteer recruiting session. The Gazette was not allowed to photograph the session.

Propeack said that the organization feared attendees would be intimidated by the presence of media.

According to the agenda, Casa de Maryland organizers planned to ask participants to pair up and dialogue scenes between an officer making a traffic stop and a driver who has been stopped. Organizers passed around an eight-page handout titled, ‘‘Know your rights! Learn how to protect you and your family during immigration raids.”

The handout advises immigrants to formulate contingency plans for children and other family members in case they are detained.

David Salner of Frederick said he came to the workshop to find out ‘‘what can be done to support immigrants.”

‘‘I’m totally against the police being able to round people up. It’s a violation of their rights and a threat to my rights as well,” Salner said. ‘‘It enriches our lives to have friends from all over the world.”