Arrests strike fear into immigrant community, some say

‘‘The trust that has been built for the last 15 years between the community and the police department is right now in serious risk,” he said.

Montgomery County Police were present during the criminal raid Thursday led by Immigration and Customs Enforcement on the Ennalls Avenue business. County police officers also were noted in the criminal indictment’s affidavit as helping ICE officials identify several employees of the restaurant.

Lt. Porsha Jones, director of media services for Montgomery County Police, said Chief J. Thomas Manger would not be available for comment on Tuesday afternoon, and said the department played a ‘‘support role” for the criminal investigation.

‘‘It was a criminal raid, not an immigration raid,” Jones said.

She also said that county police would be holding an informational session this week to explain to the community, specifically the Latino community, what role the police had in the investigation.

County Executive Isiah Leggett (D) also emphasized that the police were only involved in the criminal investigation of the restaurant and its owners, and were present at the raids Thursday playing a ‘‘backup” role.

‘‘We are not involved in enforcement of immigration law. ... That’s not our mission,” Leggett said Monday. ‘‘To the degree that there was involvement, it was strictly with the criminal activity.”

However, some say that there is a growing distrust and a fear that other immigrant-owned businesses and undocumented workers are going to be monitored by police.

Daniel Parra, director of the Wheaton business program for the Latino Economic Development Corp., said there is a perception among his clients and the community that Latino businesses might be specifically targeted.

‘‘So many things like that happen everywhere, and why did you target some businesses?” he said.

Manuel Hidalgo, executive director of the LEDC, said that he believes El Pollo Rico was operating its business in the same way that several other businesses operate in Wheaton and across the nation.

‘‘I hope that it goes to trial because all I can say is a jury of peers ... would have a hard time condemning this when such a large percentage of the business community [in Wheaton] is in the same boat,” Hidalgo said.

Hidalgo said that for many businesses, the use of undocumented workers allows owners to keep prices low, which is what the consumer wants.

However, Gaithersburg resident Stephen Schreiman, state director for the Maryland Minuteman Civil Defense Corps, said the business owners got what they deserved and all business employing undocumented workers should also be prosecuted.

‘‘ICE should do more of these raids and specifically go after these employers,” Schreiman said. ‘‘They are not paying the taxes and their employees are becoming a burden on the taxpayers.”

The Rev. Sergio Hernandez, a priest at Our Lady of Sorrows Catholic Church in Takoma Park, said that while many of the immigrants in the church community do feel persecuted by government immigration officials, there seemed to be a more legitimate criminal allegation toward the owners in this case.

Doris Depaz, supervisor at the Wheaton day-laborer center for Casa of Maryland, said she has noticed fewer people at the center since the arrests Thursday. Depaz said many fear that the police had a role in the investigation and arrest of undocumented workers.

Eugene, 70, a Silver Spring resident, was at the Wheaton center Monday looking for work and said through Depaz, who translated for him, that it has been slow since the arrests were made. Eugene, who wouldn’t provide his last name because he feared being targeted, said he was outside El Pollo Rico on Thursday when ICE police made arrests.

He said through Depaz that he was worried people would no longer want to go to police to report crime and said he was concerned that this might lead to status questions during traffic violations or other minor offenses.

While Montgomery County Police say they favor a hands-off approach when it comes to legal status, other police departments in the Washington, D.C., area have taken a different tactic.

In Prince William County in Virginia, a resolution was passed last week that would allow police officers to check the status of people in police custody whom police believe could be an illegal immigrant.

The employees that were arrested by ICE in the raid at El Pollo Rico are currently being processed for removal from the United States. All the employees are Guatemalan natives and were working in the United States illegally, said Ernestine Fobbs, a spokeswoman with ICE.

Staff Writers Sebastian Montes and Alexandra Hiatt contributed to this story.